Covid-19
Covid-19 has changed everything beyond all recognition, on a scale I can hardly begin to get my head around.
We are not allowed outside other than to get food or medicine, for 1 hour of daily exercise in the local area, or to go to work if it’s not possible to work from home (I’m very fortunate in that I’m able to work at home and my job isn’t under threat because of the sort of work I do).
All shops apart from food retailers and some hardware stores are shut. There are no sporting or cultural events, in fact no gatherings of any sort; you have to stay 2m apart from anyone you don’t live with. People have to queue, 2m apart, to get into the local supermarket. Schools, universities, theatres, restaurants, cinemas and offices are all closed. Families are couped up inside all day – this weekend Lambeth Council closed Brockwell Park because people were gathering there in groups – and none of us knows if and when things will ever return to what we used to think of as normal.
The news reduces me to tears most days with stories of public service, generosity, kindness and loss. People are dying in their hundreds every day and their loved ones aren’t even able to visit them in hospital or attend their funeral, for fear of spreading the virus further. I can’t imagine what that must be like. A man on the news this week had lost his wife of 50+ years and was devastated not to have been allowed to be with her at the end. I mean, where do you go from there?
These are strange and stressful times indeed.
How to stay relatively sane
For those of us with a pre-existing mental health condition like depression or anxiety, it’s time to get disciplined and do all the things we know we need to do to keep well: eating properly and regularly, exercising, taking proper breaks, breathing deeply, resting, doing everything we can to avoid allowing anxiety to take hold.
I’m not saying it’s always possible, or that doing these things is always enough to keep you out of dodge; it’s not, especially once things have started to escalate and the clouds have taken hold. Sometimes, there’s nothing you can do, it engulfs you and you just have to ride it out until you get to the other side, and try to remember that there is always another side.
But it’s definitely possible, some of the time, to reduce your risk of a serious episode by keeping yourself as well, rested and calm as possible.
For me, that means going to the allotment above all else. Getting outside, digging, seeing the sky, watering, weeding and tending plants. Pottering. Looking at the view. Lying on your back and looking at the sky (J has cleared the area under the plum trees and made a lovely area for us to hang out and relax in the shade).
Willow and plum tree branches against a brilliant blue sky
Connecting with the season and the soil, and seeing the changes that each passing week brings – reminding myself that whatever else is going on, the seasons are still seasons and the earth is still the earth. These things make me feel happy, peaceful and settled even when everything else is awful. I get into a flow state and come out feeling calm, rested and physically tired rather than mentally wired.
In this extraordinary situation, I’m also very much counting my blessings because:
- my job is not under threat, unlike many many other people
- I have the sort of job that gives me a chance to help a bit – feeling like I’m being helpful or useful is about the single most positive thing I can do for my mental health
- despite being exposed to a few people at work with the virus before lockdown, I don’t seem to have caught it, or if I have then I’ve not had any symptoms
- I have a comfortable place to live with enough space for me and J to work at home without disturbing each other
- I am safe in my home and happy in my relationship
- we have the allotment, so have (for now) access to green outdoor space
I’ve never been more grateful for the allotment than I am now. So far, you are still allowed to go to allotments, as part of your daily exercise. So we’ve been going up there once a day for an hour or so. We stayed longer today, but I’m not now actually sure we should have done that. Will check tomorrow. The allotment society has introduced special Covid-19 rules and most people seem to be complying: no more than 2 people on a plot; social distancing at all times; and all the communal facilities are shut (the toilets, the shop and the community building that sometimes serves as a cafe).
I really, desperately hope that the site continues to be open, because I’m not joking when I say I’m really relying on my daily allotment fix to get me through this weird and stressful period.
Exciting seedling action
Since I last wrote, I’ve been sowing loads of seeds at home and on the plot, and continuing to dig over the raised beds – I’ve only got 2/3 of a bed left to dig and they’re all dug and ready. That’s been a labour of love but I’m really happy to have got it done it in time for planting.
The seeds I sowed in Feb and March have all started coming through, including the parsnips which I’m very happy about as I tend to have mixed results with parsnips – some years they just don’t germinate. Also now showing are: peas, radishes, lettuces, beetroot, carrots and various companion flowers including Calendula Orange King and Limanthes Douglasii (aka Poached Egg Plant).
I’ve planted out the sweet peas, sunflowers and broad beans, and a couple of lettuces. I’ve planted out the first early potatoes (Charlotte and Pink Fir Apple). I’ve made bean wigwams and sowed the first climbing beans.
Nematodes
Yesterday I applied nematodes to all the beds – I’ve done this before and I reckon it made a noticeable difference to the amount of slug damage over a period of 4-6 weeks. In theory it works for 6 weeks, which covers the period you most need to keep the slug action down – once things a growing away a bit of slug damage doesn’t really matter, but they can devastate entire crops in one sitting at this point in the season.
Nematodes occur naturally in the soil, and applying more can increase their population and help control your slug population. ‘Control’ = kill, which I don’t like to do, but at least this does it in a way that’s less damaging than if you use slug pellets. That’s because you’re adjusting the balance of things that would exist naturally anyway, rather than introducing poison that can harm birds and frogs as well as the intended target. I don’t like to kill things, but I also can’t really be doing with losing entire crops to the little buggers, so I’m afraid it has to be.
I’ve bulk ordered 40 bags of spent mushroom compost to mulch all the beds, and am unreasonably excited about getting all that goodness into the soil and seeing what difference it makes. On reflection this may have been a bit of a ridiculous amount to order, but the price meant that you only paid 30% more for 40 than for 20, so the price per bag is much lower when you buy in bulk. I reckon I need at least 25 bags for the allotment and can easily make use of the remaining 15 in the garden (another project in its own right – more on this later…). It’s due to arrive in a couple of weeks.
Disorganisation
All the garden centres are shut, and online stores are operating with a 2-week delivery delay, so you have to be a bit more organised than I normally am when it comes to ordering seeds. I’ve now ordered all the seeds I need for spring and summer and am waiting for the next lot to arrive.
The tomatoes I sowed in haste in February have gone as spindly and measly as you would expect. I’ve sowed a second batch and am going to have to bin the first lot. I knew when I sowed them that it was too early really, but thought I’d give it a shot. Lesson learned: wait for the right time to sow things.
I’ve got a slight glut of calendula seedlings, I’m not sure what I’m going to do with them all. What a lovely problem to have.
Right, I’ve exhausted myself today, digging and pottering in the sunshine. Time for a nice cup of tea 🙂
Keeping the Plot 