Chair’s Chit Chat No.2 January 2023
My allotment shed is a disgrace!
Well, it is according to my wife. Not the exterior you understand but the interior. To me it is filled to capacity with allotment gardening essentials: tools of all kinds (randomly scattered), three wheelbarrows (yes, three), bamboo canes, rolls of chicken wire, bundles of enviromesh, containers of organic fertilisers and much, MUCH more. Indeed, so filled is it that I can only squeeze in sideways just inside the door to shelter from a rainstorm.
Not all allotment sheds are the same.
One of my allotment neighbours, Paul, who is ex-army, takes a different approach. All his tools are hung, according to size, in serried ranks on proper hooks. There is a place for everything and everything is in its place. Get this – Paul can actually pass, unimpeded, to the back of his shed – can you believe that? I don’t think I have managed to venture to the back of my shed for at least two years.
Amy’s shed is different again. Not so much shed as luxurious summer house. It boasts carpets, lace curtains on the window and a couple of armchairs. After a few hours of hard manual labour, it is the perfect place in which to relax in a modicum of comfort.
I have a garden shed at home too. This very much follows the pattern of the allotment shed. It is different in one respect because it is so crammed with ‘stuff’, I cannot get in at all!
Which just goes to prove that garden sheds mean different things to different gardeners.