One Year On

I gave myself a year to decide whether I would like allotment life but it really only took 5 minutes to know it definitely was for me. It took 4 months of hard work (thanks dad) to get the bindweed under control (everyone keeps telling me that you don't get rid of it and, while I'm willing to believe them, I'm definitely not willing to do more than vaguely acknowledge that fact).

Then there was the very important issue of how to lay out the plot - I may have been a little OCD on that front but the 'sources' do talk about rotating beds so isn't it a good idea to know which is which?!

Once you get this far, you actually need to put something in the ground. I have a tendency to procrastinate over such things as if I don't plant it, it can't die. As a result I am extremely grateful to Chris, Kathy, Linda, Peter and others who shared cuttings and seedlings because I am reasonably sure that, without their offerings, I may never have got anything in the ground.

Watering, weeding and harvesting became a full time occupation over the summer, particularly the watering. The harvesting was amazing though and I even invested in a dehydrator to be able to store some of my produce after deciding that an additional freezer wouldn't fit anywhere.

The year came and went without me noticing and now it is a year and a month and I'm almost done with the majority of the overwintering weeding I can honestly say 'I LOVE IT'.