It’s been nearly a month since the Halloween Pumpkin Walk and we’ve all recovered enough to talk about it.

We all did a huge amount of preparation for this, especially Dominic and Fran: there were 150 pumpkins to be carved, plots to be decorated, witches caves to be built, preserves and cakes to be made, the lucky and yucky dips to assemble and lights to put up.

At 3pm, we opened our gates and it seemed that all of Ealing came to visit us, nearly 2,000 people in all.

Looking around the allotments there are so many rows of veg with the promise of tastey sweetcorn and delicious tomatoes. But, for me, the best thing about having an allotment is growing flowers. 

Saturday 7th February was our first work day of the new year and the first day of our new project to sort out the hedgerow that encloses the allotments. It's a long long time since the hedgerow had been cleared and it was clear to see that a lot of rubbish and other things had accumulated over the years. What better way to start the year than a spring clean? As ever, the work was easier thanks to a bunch of volunteers both allotment holders and other members of the local community.

Our local council is Ealing... and they have recently launched a new website to encourage local residents to volunteer. 

The site was launched last week and Simon and I were asked to do a short talk to explain our project - the Radbourne Walk.

Why does Santa need three allotments?

So my alarn goes off at 8.00 on Saturday morning and any sensible person would have rolled over and gone back to sleep. But I drag myself out of bed and look out the window....all I can see is frost.