This season is our first full one on the allotment. Although I have tried veg growing in the past, it has never been on such a scale as this. I have to confide that I am still nervous about it. The planting and cultivation from seed through to the finished vegetable goodness fills me with both wonder and fear. I never tire of seeing those first seedlings pushing through and relish potting on plants until they are ready to go out into the big wide world. However, once in the ground I cluck around them like a mother hen and feel devastated when something goes wrong. I take it very personally and feel like an allotment failure.
Now, horror of horrors, I am faced with task of successive planting!! If I have gaps after harvesting I must fill them or be faced with the charge of not utilising my plot effectively. Bare ground is wasted ground!!!!
Today, I proudly unearthed the rest of our garlic - this was a big success. The garlic has been in the ground since November and today the beautiful luscious bulbs saw the light of day. Between you and me I think I have produced enough to last a lifetime - but I guess I can always barter with some of it. However, to get back to my original train of thought, I now have a 19 ft x 4 ft bed to fill!!!!! What can I possibly put in that bed??? If I was any good at all as an allotmenteer, I would now produce several trays of green and burgeoning plants that would perfectly fill the space!!! Not me, oh no - I am going to get out the books tonight - when it is far too late - and come up with some half-arsed scheme that will end up with me just covering the bed over and forgetting about it! ...........but then again there is always green manure!!!!!! I think that will have to be a different blog topic for another day.
By the way, the photo is of our recycled trailer tent which has been magically transformed with one of those cheap plastic greenhouse covers into our very own tomato and salad house - nifty, eh?!
