Over the FENCE
Allotment at home success
Two years ago my heart was broken when I had to give up my muchloved allotment. It felt like an immense failure. I was bereft but relieved at the same time.
Working as a full-time gardener I just didn’t have the energy in the evenings to maintain an allotment
as well as work six or seven hours during the day. My back was screaming “slow down”, my wrists ached, I felt like I was falling to pieces. So change was needed! I gathered up my last harvest, fought off tears and said goodbye to my weed-infested haven.
Over the next year I wistfully reminisced about crops and harvests that would be flourishing, but I’d passed the baton onto someone else. I needed to move forward. So we decided to create our own ‘allotment’ in our back garden. This revelation changed everything!
I was able to tend to my new kitchen garden, however short the windows of opportunity were, even if it was just a quick weed while I drank a mug of coffee, rather than having to set aside large chunks of time to walk down to the allotment and see what had happened since I was last there.
Although it was a hard decision to let go of it, recreating it in my own back garden was exactly what I needed. Now I can harvest all crops when they’re in their prime, when I can see they’re ripe and not worry about having to get everything done in one go, not knowing when I’d get a chance to return. It was always frustrating to visit the allotment only to find the fruit or veg had gone over, or the local pigeons had enjoyed a feast in my absence.
Of course I’ll always miss the happy days of escaping to my green sanctuary; sunny hours watching my son dig the deepest hole he could, then fill it with water to make a mud bath; the precious chats with fellow allotmenteers; and swapping seeds, plants and surplus harvests, but it’s an enormous relief to not have the constant worry of the allotment crying out for attention I could no longer give.
It’s important that gardening is a respite from daily grind and makes you happy, not stressed. I’m grateful and lucky to be able to grow my own fruit and veg at home – albeit on a smaller scale – and I look forward to sharing my progress with you.