Sometimes with vegetable gardening you get in a bit of a rut, repeating what you did the year before, dropping a crop because it’s repeatedly unsuccessful or you don’t ever seem to eat it. It starts to get a bit boring.
I had two plots, one of which I only took on because I needed somewhere to plant a lot of stuff temporarily after I “retired”. Temporary turned into a decade, the “stuff” is mostly long gone, the young couple I sublet half the plot to are gone. The decision to give it up was an easy one, especially so with another plot holder snapping at my heels to take it over.
It still has a 10 x 15 ft tunnel on it, with my tomatoes still yielding and a fair number of other bits and pieces in pots. I’ve told the heel snappers they can have the rest of the plot but that the quarter where the tunnel stands is still mine until I’ve emptied it. They can have the tunnel. I have four or five camellias in the ground to lift in the autumn; I’ve moved half the pots in the tunnel and the tomatoes are coming to an end. By the end of October I will be gone from plot 3 and will only have plot 6.
And I couldn’t be happier. I didn’t need two plots, I couldn’t manage two plots properly. I’m leaving the tunnel behind and have just finished putting a new one up on plot 6. It’s a little bigger at 12 x 15 ft, but feels a lot bigger because the hoops are straight for the bottom 3 feet instead of curving in from ground level. It was erected where I had peas and onions growing; the peas were finished, the onions have now been lifted and are drying in the tunnel. With minimal work I was able to prepare some ground for seed sowing and on 1st September, last Sunday, sowed Radish, Mizuna, Mustard and Rocket. When I looked yesterday I had radish and Mizuna up; today 8 out of 9 rows are up, four days from sowing.
Plot 3, except for the tunnel section, has been taken over; I don’t feel I’ve abandoned it, it’s already being better used than it has been for years. I can spend all my time on plot 6, do it properly, whatever that means, and be back on top of things.
Plot 6 is further from the entrance, twice as far, so I’m going to moving more stuff between the plot and my car using a wheelbarrow. I fixed the gate on plot 6 so I can get in without stepping over the fence.
On plot 6 I have a large nettle patch to bring back under cultivation, not something that lends itself to a no-dig strategy, and I have all the waifs and strays from plot 3 to home or dispose of. It’s all good though, my allotment mojo is back, ⟳ has been pressed. I might even do a few more blogs about it, the last one was a long time back.
garden ruminations 
Oh fun! I love a good garden re-do post! How fun to see the changes you are making there in the allotment. That poly-tunnel frame seems much more user-friendly than the kinds with sides that curve from ground. I was really curious to read the post that you mentioned about your compost. Can you link it? And treasure of treasures…you get the joy of a passing train there!
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I was going to link to the post about getting rid of the compost heaps but couldn’t find it. I may only have imagined writing it. I’ll have another look and an update is probably overdue.
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I hope you do. I’ll look forward to reading that.
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The original article was from January 2021 https://wp.me/p6bCCa-2Ft and I have mentioned it again in various articles that come up under the category Allotment and vegetable gardening. An update is long overdue and already under way.
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Nicely written piece saying goodbye to your allotment.
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A gardener forms an attachment to a piece of land, a small part of me will miss those 200 square metres.
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I understand when I had to leave behind my allotment when moving home across country, it was the same. However then I had to leave behind friends on the allotment too.
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Camaraderie in adversity a lot of the time.
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That is the quietest chug chug from a train I’ve ever heard, comforting actually. And you are correct, a garden is never done. That was kind to leave the hoop to be cared for by the next!
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The original video was much longer, I heard it chugging, rushed down the allotment site and started filming but it was ages before it came out of the tunnel.
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Looking forward to see what you can grow over the coming months. Any plant for growing grapes?
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How nice of you to leave the old hoop for the new comers..hope they said thank you and can keep it in production..Mine is sadly taken over by local weeds.
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They will keep the tunnel in production but I wonder how long it will be before they want a bigger one, and quite possibly want me to put it up for them.
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In a word, no. You’ve planted a thought seed though…….
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