To round off National Growing for wellbeing week, here's a guest post from Pam.
Bear with me fellow allotment-ers, this has a happy ending...
In 2014 - 2015, very soon after my friend and I began renting a plot at Highbury South, my husband died suddenly. He had always supported me by listening to my excited plans but we both acknowledged it was my hobby, my space, my place to potter and plant and relax. Six months later I also lost my mother and in 2018 tragically my stepson, but the allotment visits never waned.
In fact those visits gave me a stability in life which was sorely needed. Getting soil under my nails, seeing the miracle of seeds germinating and eating the produce never lost its magic. I made spreadsheets of planting in the autumn, started seeds off in January, picked leeks in February and ate soup in March made the previous year. And then the cycle all began again.
So for the past five years, with my friend Jill, I have continued to garden here. We now have two plots, many exciting plans, meet there every week, text each other, ring each other about how wonderful life is at the beautiful site with the big skies. Gardening is so fundamental to me and has supported my mental health in so many different ways. I am forever grateful.
Pam 57B & 124.
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