A Quick Allotment Catch Up!

I consider myself extremely lucky to have my beautiful new allotment and whilst it hasn’t quite been as much of a success as I had hoped this year for reasons I shall get to, we are having an extraordinary bean harvest, the courgettes are going wild and the pumpkins and squash are covering the ground like mad things and are fruiting so let’s see if the weather remains ok and they swell and ripen. There are raspberries enough for our breakfasts and the six artichoke plants left by the previous person were so productive I ended up giving loads away!

There have been issues though. The land is like concrete if there hasn’t been any rain and although the clay is really quite fertile, getting enough water onto new plantings is a constant challenge. But the main challenge has been that Mr Venn has been laid up with a bulging spinal disc for the last 3 months, unable to go to work or do anything physical as he has been, and still is, in immense pain both in his back and in the nerves in his legs. This has led to a summer of relative quiet and quite a lot of frustration from him as he hasn’t been able to manage his allotment roles of strimming and some digging, not to mention master of the beans, which he always gets super excited by! Fortunately he is slowly improving but it continues to be a long and difficult recovery and keeping him from overdoing things is an ongoing challenge.

That aside what I have realised is that there is no rush. Ideally the whole plot would have been dug by now, particularly the area I plan to use for flowers next year which at the moment is weedy and sad, but I have now decided to cover in black plastic over winter and then cover with compost and truly go with a no dig solution. What matters is productivity and although I want to see the plot as both beautiful and productive, I need to remove my nurseryperson’s head and treat is as a joy, not a chore. A few weeds don’t really matter and, although I can’t believe I am thinking this, let alone putting it out there for all to read, I am not going to be obsessive about them, or try not to be at least. I’m doing ok at that so far!! So the ongoing plan is to mainly stay calm, continue to crop, eat and preserve the harvestsand start to plant spring flowering bulbs for the year ahead whilst ordering a ton of manure and compost ready for spreading on a cold, crisp winters day……