And then we went shopping...

When faced with a new idea, hobby or experience, I generally have one immediate reaction: buy a book. No amount of financial constraints, common sense or complete lack of need has ever stopped me doing this. Nor has the fact that my dad brought me up with the mantra "you don't have to buy books, just get them from the library". In fact, my incessant book-buying is probably the closest I have ever got to full-scale teenage rebellion against the parentals. 

A new book is the nicest feeling in the world, and so, as a result of the allotment, I went to Waterstones. I'll be honest, I had been secretly planning this trip since I first even considered an allotment, although obviously I presented it to Simon as "I was just passing and thought I'd pop in to see what they had to help us." The range was quite impressive, although as we already had an allotment we were a bit ahead of the game as the first third of most of the books was about applying and securing an allotment.  Also, a lot were basically recipe books which suggested you could grow some of the ingredients yourself if you wanted. Or not. Whatever was right for you.

Happily, I stumbled across this gem: "The Allotment Book" by Andi Clevely. It is a valuable addition to our gardening library, with a very user friendly format for beginners. The pictures are beautiful and there is a huge amount of information, including a very useful calendar-style section so we know what we should be doing and when. It will also be transferrable to when we do not have an allotment, but reach the dizzy heights of a vegetable patch in our very own garden. 

The "Vegetable and Herb Expert" has been immensely helpful so far, but hasn't quite grasped that the way to entice me down to the allotment is to show me pictures of attractive people reclining in a small forest of flowers in the sunshine, sipping refreshing beverages. Rather, it takes the more scientific view and thinks I will be enthralled by pictures of the fungal infections potatoes can get.   

More shopping will take place on Sunday, with a trip to a big new garden centre in Preston. I don't want to get my hopes up, but there are rumours of even more pink gardening accessories.....Simon is preparing a list for me to take but, worryingly, it so far does not have anything pink on it. 

A day in which Waterstones has been visited is always a good day.

Keep it green folks, 

B