I bought this book in 1979 and have not really looked at it since. Like some other books I bought in the seventies it is completely falling apart.
In the UK 1974 was a year of strikes, power restrictions and the three-day week. And there were shortages. 'Lavatory paper, as I recall, was the first item to fall into short supply.' Sounds familiar ... When broad beans become hard to find Times Diarist Michael Leapman decides to see about finding an allotment. This is not easy, with waiting lists everywhere, but eventually he finds one near Brixton prison, owned by the Water Board, at 35 p a year. The plot has not been used for ages and is completely overgrown with weeds.
Micheal plans to reclaim the plot gradually and sows and plants on the parts he has cleared. He reports on his progress now and then, striking a chord with readers and the letters pour in, often with (conflicting) advice. Later in the year comments and parodies appear in other papers.
Balancing working on the allotment with his duties as a journalist is hard and he is not really able to interest family members into helping him: 'my sister-in-law went armed with a folding chair, a rug and a Sunday newspaper, which was nog the idea at all.' However, he finds that even when he returns to find everything overgrown with weeds, the shallots, beans and lettuces are still doing well.
Later on, there is the problem many gardeners face: 'your produce always comes to maturity just as you go away on holiday.' Once again the vegetables survive his absence and he continues to harvest tomatoes, lettuces, marrows and beans. One of the marrows he grows and writes about with great enthousiasm is 'Vegetable Spaghetti.' To his delight Jane Grigson, a famous cookery writer, telephones him to say that she is writing a book about vegetables and can he advise her on how to cook a vegetable spaghetti marrow? Alas, I got rid of this cookbook some years ago (because, although I liked reading it I never cooked any recipes from it) so I can't look up her recipe.
The book ends with a list of the vegetables that Michael grew, with notes on how they did, and tips on what to do when.
If you grow vegetables this is a fun book to read about a fellow gardener's experiences. However, Michael was in such a hurry to finish the book that he did not wait to see how his onions and pumpkins did, nor do we know if he continued with the allotment.
It is also a little time capsule from a bygone era: a time when books on gardening and cooking were quite rare, use of weedkillers was quite common and the only thing you could do with a marrow was to boil it for half an hour and eat it with pepper and salt.
Micheal Leapman wrote many more books on a variety of subjects. He died in 2023. His obituary can be found here .
