For many years, this former Gentlemen’s Hairdresser on Rodney Street has been falling to pieces in front of our eyes.
The paintwork is peeling from the front. Nobody knows what’s going on inside. The shop just sits there like a small-business memento mori, winking at people by the bus stop and muttering to itself.
Now, at last, there are signs of an encouraging development.
Reader Fiona Illand contacted us yesterday with news that a self-seeded lettuce is flourishing in the doorway of No. 38.
We visited this morning, and, sure enough, there it is – green and crisp and delicious-looking amid the fag butts, plastic spoons and old pigeon feathers which have somehow contributed to its success.
Burpee’s online advice about growing lettuce suggests that it is one of the more ‘care-free’ crops.
‘For maximum lettuce production,’ it asserts, ‘it's wise to select a site where the soil drains well, yet retains some moisture.
‘The soil should also be rich in nitrogen and potassium. The best way to accomplish this is to work in plenty of organic matter (compost, rotted manure, or leaf mold) that will loosen and enrich the soil. Strive for a pH of 6.0 to 6.8.’
We’d rather not think too long about where the Rodney Street specimen’s nitrogen has come from.
Are readers aware of other unlikely fertile spots around Broughton? If we combined what they have to offer, could we assemble a Spurtleshire street banquet?
All tips gratefully received.
Got a view? Tell us at spurtle@hotmail.co.uk and @theSpurtle and Facebook
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Fiona Illand :) Surely the heading should be "Street Food" though?
Claire Miller Yesterday I happened to notice a healthy-looking budlia growing out of one of the traffic islands in the junction of Elm Row and Annandale Street. So healthy that it seemed to be morphing the traffic island with its roots.
Euan MacGuzzi McGlynn A builder uses it for storage.