You might think allotment people are only green-fingered, but I think they’re a bit tin-fingered as well.

Giles Turnbull has a website on the internet and sometimes he posts pictures. The other day he had a nice post of observations and pictures from allotments. I’m not exactly sure of the translation misalignment, but it looks to be about the same thing as what I would call a community garden here in Northern California. Giles is also a well known internet person and that stuff is good too.¹

So I had a look around the community garden where my wife has a plot and made a few pictures. This survey is only a quarter of the plots. We’re much later in the growing season than Giles’ area, but the plants haven’t blocked things up that much yet.

I suspect Giles is making a bit of a joke by calling it “engineering” and I don’t mind that at all. Properly, this is jury rigging, though “vernacular” could conceivably be stretched to include this sort of improvised construction. That led me to jugaad and I love it, so much invention and freedom and creativity! We need more of this. Well, I do.

It’s a little hard to see in this next one but that is a writing desk there in the middle. I like to imagine it is getting good use early every morning, supporting an intrepid author putting in the work. The plants encroach a little more every morning and have to be shoo’d off the writing area now and then, the rascals.

As I was wrapping up I noticed this tool had been assembled from some left over parts too. Or maybe it’s a “proper”² tool that I just haven’t had the pleasure of yet.

I too believe that I will post some updates now and again as I scout more of the plots and see what else I see. There is still the other three quarters of the plots, just in this one community garden. Send your observations to Giles, or me too. Vernacular engineering is fun!