It seems the psychologists have finally discovered what allotmenteers have always known - that nurturing plants is good for your mental and physical wellbeing. In other words, plotting makes you happy.
I can't say that having an allotment is stress free, but it's utterly different from the worries that can plague people's work and home life: not will I lose my job in the latest corporate downsizing or does my wife still love me, but will those pumpkin seedlings survive the cold weather tonight, or did I prune those blackcurrants properly?
The three-minute walk from my house to my plot - up the road, past the corner shop with the customary gaggle of teenagers hanging about, across the patch of waste ground where Tripod the three-legged cat sits, down the alleyway and through the gate - is usually long enough for any nagging worries to slip away while I pull carrots or dig potatoes, watching the sky for rain or a beautiful sunset.
Maybe that's why the onset of winter is so hard, when I leave for work in the dark and arrive home in the dark, limiting my plot visits to the weekend.
Meanwhile Tory leadership candidate David Cameron also seems to be cottoning on to the allotment zeitgeist. Earlier this week he visited organic allotments in North Tyneside and even offered a top organic gardening tip:
"I grow my own vegetables, it is one of the most satisfying things you can do. I plant garlic all the way around the beds because the slugs don't like it."
This rather spookily fits with some of what I've been thinking today. At the risk of sounding paranoid, it seems that I'm geeting messages from many quarters today - look after yourself, go dig!
Posted by: Clare | November 16, 2005 at 11:44 PM
Preach it, sister!
Posted by: Gardening crash-test dummy | November 19, 2005 at 12:02 AM