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Now's the time
by Rob Bullock

The search for signs of spring has finally been rewarded. Hazel catkins, yellow crocuses and early daffodils have all felt the warmth in the late winter sun.

So the sap's rising at last, the seed order has arrived and the lengthening days will soon allow an hour in the garden at the end of the day.

If you've toyed with the idea of working an allotment then now's the time for action. Grimesthorpe allotments site has two entrances on Grimesthorpe Road and straddles the ridge, with views from Meadowhall to the city centre on one side and Fir Vale and the north-east of the city on the other. If you wander up on a Saturday morning between 10 and 12 o'clock and call at the allotment shop on top of the hill youÕll find someone happy to show you round.

Grimesthorpe Community Gardens Group, whose aim is to have a fully tenanted and worked allotment site, has secured funds from New Deal. The project will replace the one kilometre perimeter fence, provide a new meeting room and toilets and install raised bed plots for gardeners with health or mobility difficulties. This should be completed by the end of March, and Grimesthorpe allotments site will boast some of the best facilities in the city.

Allotment gardening is hard work and starting on a plot that has become overgrown is quite daunting. The effort is soon rewarded by the pleasure of being outdoors, good exercise, the friendship and support of other gardeners and most importantly, the harvest.