”Have you seen my allotment?”  ”How’s your allotment coming along?”  ”My, hasn’t your allotment grown!”  Valid points for an allotment-based conversation. Meanwhile, growing keenly in the background, occasionally underappreciated and at times missing our attention, is our garden.

It’s true, taking on an allotment this year has felt like having a child.  Think Lion King and it’s Mufasa proudly showing off Simba: “My son!”.  However, I could never forget the one thing that first opened my grey world to colour and helped me want to make it a better place.  The garden: always  there when I had a bad day, never turning on me when I experimented in the early days of growing, and always forgiving me when I accidentally sent an ill-kept plant to a compost grave.

And since the vegetables have given up their residency and moved  over to the allotment, the strain on the garden’s precious beds this year has been lifted. And to show her appreciation, she has rewarded me with an array of colours and shapes and welcomed all sorts of wildlife into her Eden.  From hoverfly to frog to dragonfly to heron. Did I not tell you about the heron that would stop off for respite on my shed this summer?  

So, whilst we sing proudly about the success of our allotments, let us not forget the unsung heroes beyond our back doors.

Before Autumn forces her to cover-up, I thought I would lead our garden in a final, floral fashion parade and capture some of her summer splendour before it’s gone for another year.