Our allotment hasn't had our full attention for almost five years.
First came Covid, can you believe that was 5 years ago? That coincided with the terrifying worst of my ME/CFS symptoms. Then came my daughter's pregnancy which wasn't straightforward, and we all caught Covid during that, which exacerbated my ME/CFS.
Next came the joy of my grandchild's arrival in Summer 2022. Following that came post natal depression, and us providing even more support than grandparents living close by would naturally offer. There were many nights that I didn't sleep, looking after the little one, making sure both they and my daughter were OK whilst my son in law was working night shifts.
Then came child care, more support, and 3 hospital stays for my Mum.
Finally, we bought our Welsh bolt hole, meaning we were there half of the week most weeks.
All of the evenings and weekends we used to spend at the allotment disappeared in a haze of exhaustion, illness, fear and caring responsibilities, followed by the joy of having a caravan by the sea.
We gave up our half plot as, in addition to not having enough time and energy, I could no longer tolerate the thoughtlessness and downright nastiness of our immediate plot neighbour who is also an odious racist.
That left us with a larger half plot and its adjacent half that we look after as it's unlettable.
We've managed to make a start on it already this year... 7 fruit trees pruned, 19 fruit bushes pruned, countless raspberry canes pruned, a fruit cage dismantled ready for the bushes to be moved, and all done in a few hours this week.
Once we're there we work hard, but there is still a lot to do... shrubs, hedging and several clematis to be pruned, Jerusalem artichokes to be cut down and dug out, 2 small ponds to sort, a 28 year old shed to be repaired and re-erected, glass to be replaced in the greenhouse, sheds to be painted, and that's before we've thought about preparing the ground for the growing season.
We were hoping to get there today, but our son in law was late finishing after an already long shift, so who knows when he'll take over the childcare.
And finally we need the weather to co-operate on the days we do have the opportunity to go there, whilst living in one of the wettest areas of England... they didn't site all those cotton mills here for no reason!
Allotments are loads of work aren't they, more so than a garden as at least you see your garden every day, whereas you have to travel to an allotment. We gave up ours years ago as it was sited beside a housing estate and got vandalised regularly - soul destroying after all the work we'd put in.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely hard work. We've had them for 19 years, and been at this site for 9. We had a lot of thefts at the old one, but no outside trouble at this one, just a horrible plot neighbour, who lent done thing of ours to another plot holder... who broke it!!!
DeleteAllotments aren't really a thing here, or at least I'm not familiar where. We've had a few community gardens but that seems more like people collectively care for the same large garden. I bought a couple raised beds and will be getting rid of errant trees that spring up to hopefully get a success small garden this year. I have raspberry bushes already that need taming. Good luck...it seems a lot on your plate but I recall how lovely your allotments have been.
ReplyDeleteThey've been around for centuries here, and we're very lucky to have several sites in my town. I just wish that we had more time to spend there as I enjoy the fresh air, exercise and sense of accomplishment. It's been too cold to go there over the weekend, but I've spent today sorting the bedroom, and feel better for it.
DeleteI used to have an allotment in the dim and distant past Scarlet, but a combination of time (lack of that be), being too bloody knackered with shift work and having to deal with nosey and busy body fellow allotmenters who spent more time trying to strike up conversation and figure out what I was doing on my patch (you already know that I am not a social animal m’thinks), than tending their own patches. Truth be told the majority of my allotment was taken up with apple trees as I used to make me own cider. I do wish that I had the space here at the “House in the Rock” to grow some edibles but then again time is still in short supply .
ReplyDeleteOh yes, the nosy ones who want to know what you're doing, how much you've harvested etc. I caught one standing looking into the open boot of our car at the crops I'd already loaded into there as I carried more the 10 yards from the plot!
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