Spraying affects a lot more than the plot...

... but is it too daunting for some gardeners to stop and instead learn new techniques, asks Tim Foster

- Tim Foster

WE had a plumber round the other day. He brought with him his bag of plumbers’ tools and his own brand of plumbers’ banter. The latter revealed a certain facet of his nature when we talked about allotments.

It appears he gave up his plot when the allotment committee banned the use of chemicals. His main problem was that he was no longer allowed to spray his entire plot, rotavate it, then get on with the growing.

Two things:

One, it was interesting he wasn’t even prepared to try growing without spraying. How many growers and farmers are like that? Is it too daunting to learn new techniques, ‘old dogs, new tricks’ sort of thing? Maybe he stopped because he wasn’t really enjoying it and it was a good excuse. Everyone to their own, I suppose.

Personally, I absolutely love it even without any spraying (perhaps even because there isn’t any spraying). It might even be my raison d’étre though I’m not sure what dried fruit has to do with it.