Gardening is one of the most beloved English pastimes. Kate Fox writes that every English household, (house, manor or apartment) must have its “little green bit.” This English love of gardening, I believe, translates into city planning as well and accounts for London’s expansive green bits (Hampstead Heath, Epping Forest), mid-size green bits (Hyde, Regents, St. James, Green Park) and small, square green bits (Bedford, Bloomsbury, the list is too long Square), making London one of the “greenest” cities in the world.
In correspondence with my independent stud-y, I chose to spend my mandatory 20 hours of volunteering with the Norwich, Grow-Our-Own sustainability initiative and get my garden on.
My getting of my garden on was to take place at the G.O.O. (I don’t think anyone calls the initiative that except me) allotment, just a short walk from my flat down The Avenues (a great name of a street in Norwich). The allotment consists of two acres of garden, split up into dozens of 5 x 30 ft. plots, which are rented seasonally by Norwich locals, who grow their own fruits, vegetables, flowers or whatever they please.
On my first day, I was given grunt-work; or, basic manual labour that matched my competence in gardening. I spent about five hours at the allotment, transporting wheelbarrows of compost and muck (manure) to various beds, dumping the barrows and mixing the compost and muck. Despite the undistinguished nature of these tasks, I did not at all mind doing them. I was very taken with the concept of the allotment and the way that it worked, as well as the very friendly atmosphere buzzing throughout.
I was in inadvertent good fortune that it was the first Sunday of the month, meaning that all the allotment’s various gardeners brought in food for a shared lunch. Having worked all morning, I was warmly invited. The food was delicious. It seemed that each dish was cooked with the same passion for food as it was grown. I helped myself to a heaping plate, taking a small spoonful of each of the numerous dishes, and sat down to mix in with the veteran English gardeners. We talked about this and that, and at the end of the meal, I think I attracted 8, 60+ year-old new readers of to blog. Maybe I’ll have to keep this demographic in mind.
As the thoroughly enjoyable morning afternoon drew to a close, I found myself eager to volunteer again, and so did the remaining number of my required hours. I headed back the following Wednesday where I moved up to some more intermediate work (Ok, still entry-level, but this time it was actually gardening). Part of the initiative’s protocol involves providing plants for others to plant and grow. It was my job to sow seeds into small black trays, containing 84 small holes for seeds, after I had filled each tray with dirt. Dorothy remarked, “It’s so rewarding to plant a seed and see what can come out of it.” I sowed two trays of 84 seeds of sweet corn, 1 tray of sprouts, and two trays of squash. In total, that is a lot of food that all started with me. It’s so rewarding to plant a seed, indeed.
At one, I took a break for lunch, but before that, the initiative supervisor, Mahesh, showed me what would become my task for the remaining twelve hours of community service. Running the widths of four plots, is a span of grass 4x30 feet. It is my task to clear it out, making it available for planting. I walked back to my flat, ate some beans on toast, walked back, and then got to work, clearing the space of overgrown grasses slowly but steadily. I then worked again today. When I am on the allotment, digging out, reclaiming this space of land, my space of land, I cannot express the satisfaction of knowing that once I have finished, a seed will be planted, and someone with vastly more competence than me at gardening will grow a lot of food.
My work at the allotment has the feel of good, honest volunteering. And it feels English, especially when we break for tea. The fact that it is 15 degrees outside does not stop the English gardener from drinking tea. We boil water over a fire; then, into the hot water, freshly picked mint leaves are placed in. They have been picked from a couple metres away. At the allotment, they really do grow their own ... LW
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