Reasons to be fruitful: number two

Here's another reason to become an allotmenteer, as inspired by National Allotments Week:

Reason number two
Allotments are now zeitgeisty and inspirational. Seriously.

Comments

[Penge Tony]

They are also a lot of Bloody Hard Work, they demand constant attention, they need endless amounts of Unconditional Love - in that you must keep loving them even when the aphids have destroyed the globe artichokes for the fourth year running and the tomatoes have all gone down to blight, they smother you in chard, cucumbers and courgettes until you can take no more, they tease and test your loyalty and devotion like an uppity courtesan (and can be just as expensive if you're a bit too zeitgeisty and inclined to the contemporary potager), they are Never Satisfied and the work is Never Done. Talk about an abusive relationship: why am I never really happy unless I'm pollinating melons and tying up tomatoes, when consummation is so uncertain?

[Jane Perrone]

You're right - allotments are a cruel mistress (or master). The tyranny of continuous harvesting, gluts and the onward march of weeds can be stressful, but it's a kind of stress I find eminently more able to deal with than the common or garden kind.

[Penge Tony]

Maybe the peculiarly therapeutic stress of an allotment (or any garden work) equips one better to deal with the common-or-(non)-garden kind ... but why this should be is a topic of acute interest to me. Just what is the quality of working with plants which makes it so rewarding in terms of peace of mind and equanimity?