Folklore says to plant potatoes on Good Friday. Some say it’s to protect them from being grabbed by the Devil lurking in the underworld; others that it’s the right phase of the moon for planting. It’s also a holiday with some free time so I obeyed the superstition and was duly out planting my ‘first earlies’ in the allotment on the Friday of Easter.

I had visitors over the weekend, city folk, and took them to the allotment to plant broad bean seeds between the potato ridges. I dibbed the holes and they dropped the seeds in. They were wonderfully excited as they’d never planted beans before and plan to come back to see how they’re growing.

Now this puts me in a quandary because not everything grows in the allotment, particularly in the early Spring when every animal is hungry. I’ve just been over to inspect the Easter planting of peas. No shoots, nothing. They were protected by a fortress of holly and sheep’s wool against slugs, and under a net to stop the pigeons getting to them, but as yet no sign of life. Either they’re being a bit slow, or they’ve been eaten already.

So, I have ‘belt and braces’ collection of seed pots on my kitchen windowsill. The peas there are growing nicely, bright green and flourishing safe from slugs, pigeons and other sorts of ravenous biodiversity. The climbing beans planted at the same time are just beginning to germinate, the surface of the potting compost is bulging. Their shoots will soon be up.

I’m now fretting about my friends from the city. What if their Easter broad beans don’t grow? Just in case they’ve been munched already I’ve planted a batch of broad bean seeds in windowsill pots and will pop them in between the rows of potatoes once they get past the ‘slug and pigeon’ snack size. Then when my friends come back for a visit, I can take them to the allotment and they can admire ‘their beans’ that they planted on their Easter weekend visit even if they are sneaky substitutes.

Which of course reminds me of the lines from Mary Oliver’s poem ‘Beans’:

I know what you think: this is fool-

ishness. They’re only vegetables.

Have you been planting vegetables? During three months of the summer I don’t have to buy any vegetables and can pretty much live from what my allotment provides. But you don’t need an allotment to grow veggies. Even growing cress or micro-green pea shoots on your windowsill can provide some super nutrients and the joy of watching germination. Tell us your planting plans!

Rowan on the Moor

A Moodscope member