Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Allan Jenkins

Stand by your vegetable beds!


Spud-we-like: Dan among our potatoes. Photo: Suki Dhanda

So, as we warned a couple weeks back, Observer gardening guru Dan Pearson visited the allotment to cast an expert eye over our progress (all a bit Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares but with slugs instead of swearing). Luckily we didn't have a 'Gordon scallop-spitting' moment though we thought Dan might choke on his chocolate brownie when we said how much liked the overgrown nettle banks that surrounded the site even if they did harbour predatory pests... and we'll draw a discreet veil over his white-faced response to the news that the only 'plant food' we are using has been stored over winter in buried bovine body parts (they don't teach that at Wisley!).

Proof of the apple pudding: our biodynamic fruit and veg

But after he left for leafy Peckham and our inspection was over we relaxed and realised we learned a lot from his visit (such as cutting down the nettles, slaughtering the slugs and how lunatic planting by the moon can sound to professional gardeners).

Anyway, over to Dan and his allotment column in this Sunday's magazine...

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.