4th Estate
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First published in Great Britain by 4th Estate in 2017
Copyright © Allan Jenkins 2017
Except Foreword copyright © Nigel Slater 2017
Allan Jenkins asserts the right to be identified as the author of this work
This book is based on the author’s experiences. Some names, identifying characteristics, dialogue and details have been changed, reconstructed or fictionalised.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780008121952
Ebook Edition © March 2017 ISBN: 9780008121983
Version: 2018-03-09
For Christopher
Contents
There are two sorts of gardeners, those who inherit a plot of land and cover it with a lawn, a neatly manicured patch of grass to trim and mow in straight lines for all to admire. Others use their space to grow, nurture and share. They dig deep, they replenish the soil, plant seed and watch it grow. They protect and nurture what lives there, and then they share the bounty.
You can go about writing a memoir in two ways too. You can pen a story that plasters over the cracks, telling tales of heroism and success. Or you can break ground, dig deeper, bravely unearthing an altogether richer story. One that takes its author and its readers down a track that is by turns surprising, tender and, occasionally, unsettling.
I have never read anything quite like Plot 29. Yes, it’s the gentle, heart-warming tale of the rescue and repair of an abandoned allotment, of protection offered to the soil by someone who understands the joys and pitfalls of growing. But contained in these pages is also an extraordinary memoir, brave, exquisitely written and utterly compelling.
Nigel Slater, 2017
When I am disturbed, even angry, gardening is a therapy. When I don’t want to talk, I turn to Plot 29 or to a wilder piece of land by a northern sea. There among seeds and trees my breathing slows, my heart rate too. My anxieties slip away.
It’s not always like that. Sometimes I just want to grow potatoes surrounded by flowers, like I did aged five with my brother one magical summer with our new mum and dad.