FOR the first time ever, The Laxey in Bloom competition has added a category for ‘Best Allotment.’ Sponsored by the local Commissioners, the competition is open to green spaces and gardeners in Laxey with winners receiving gardening vouchers along with their award letters.
The event also includes more established categories such as ‘Small Cottage Garden’ and ‘Planted Container’, which insures that everyone can join in the fun of healthy competition as well as making Laxey a greener and more beautiful place to live.
The ‘Best Allotment’ category is open to plots in the local allotment site, which sits on a parcel of land at the top of Baldhoon Road. The Laxey and Lonan Allotments Association (LALAA) is composed of 35 plots and since its founding many people from the local community have jumped at the chance to ‘grow their own’.
The first sods on the site were turned over in February 2010 and in just over a year and a half, the space has been transformed from a grassy field into a patchwork of productive gardening space. With the addition of a parking area and water taps this year, gardening at the site has been make more accessible and convenient for everyone.
Tanya Highet, the winner of ‘Best Allotment’ for 2011 as well as the Association secretary, said, “With the vistas of the hills and sea, the camaraderie of fellow gardeners as well as the fertility of the soil, allotmenteering in Laxey is a real joy.”
In the last two growing seasons, she and other gardeners have grown a variety of both traditional allotment produce and the more exotic. While some focus on growing cabbages, potatoes and peas other gardeners grow items which are more expensive in the supermarket or can’t be found there at all. Some of these include asparagus, cape gooseberries, kohlrabi, pak choi, japanese spinach, sweet-corn and strawberry-sticks.
Anyone interested in more information on the Laxey and Lonan Allotments Association you can visit their website and Facebook pages: http://lalaaland.wordpress.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/groups/LaxeyLonanallotment/
They also have a couple of plots still vacant. Anyone interested in joining LALAA can contact Tanya at: lalaa@manx.net
