Its been an odd year garden-wise. I'll finish off the rundown of what did what to whom in what spot where etc etc in a bit. But first a quick word :-
rifle.
This years gardening was a quite different style to last years. Last year we had just taken on this plot and had no experience of working with earth at all. This year we were the boys with everything to prove. This year we had no excuse. This year we would be judged!
Was that as dramatic as I hope it was?
Well a poorly lady gardener and a wedding to plan kind of schtimied the course of Every Weekend And A Few In-Between gardening sessions that we fell into so eagerly last year.
The living past crept back to present, never left......... just waiting for the right vibrations to start and the wrong to stop.
Taller.
Upwards and outwards.
Will take it back.
We shall grow untited.
And then our shears broke.
I know.
I thought I'd put that pause in there so you can take in that behemoth information. Its OK - it works out in the end.
We bought some shears.
They broke after 4 seconds.
snip snip snip snip what?!?!?!?!?!?
Weeds and shrubs grew back in their fertile birthplace. Innocent lands for so long, wrenched from root and tendril, ploughed of history and robbed of bucolic prides.
How about that, was that as dramatic as I'd wanted? Sorry.
Anyways, the upshot was that we just couldn't get our shizzle together. As the weeds grew around and in the vegetable beds, higher and higher, they kind of sapped my energy along with the nitrites of this good Devon soil.
It wasn't until we employed the friendly (I mean a bit moody) services of a fellow allotment holder (who scares me a bit but has a strimmer) to use his strimmer (I told you!) to sort our plot out that things changed.
And then my friends, it was a corker. The mood throughout the autumn had been one of pessimistic navel-gazing. But now I could see it, we had a different game. With contributions from the wonderful and always intriguing Herb and Bibs the plot was transformed. The new look and some newly-found enthusiasm has led to a very positive approach and mindset from me. Beds have been stripped of every single weed. Borders are being kept in check. Last years dead crops are being torn from the earth. The unforgiving shine of metal spike crashes through the earth with barely disguised passion of purpose. Bare hands are plunged into the land and clods are crushed with loving muscle and sinew. The air and light dance through....
Wait, what? ......... I did it again didn't I?
Sorry.
So the plot is in good shape. We've got a couple of empty beds, some full beds weeded, the soil is prepared, new things have been planted (onion, broad bean and garlic), the freecycle cold-frame has been reconstructed and filled with the first of many pre-plant-out crops (cauliflowers) and we're still taking food to our tables. I feel ashamed to have bad-mouthed our efforts this year.
We've done alright for scran and its still a lot of fun.
And the drama!! You wouldn't believe it!
BB