19/9/25 - Shamed Into A Catchup Post.
Happy Birthday Dear Blog - Almost
Nearly a year ago, I thought, I know, I'll move my allotment diary on-line. No more scribbling notes in an old diary for me! And it started well. But then it went a bit mad. Anyone who has an allotment knows that if you allow it to, it can consume you. All your spare time and energy can quickly get taken over by your allotment. For many people, myself included, this is absolutely fine. It forms the basis of the whole hobby and this blog I very much see as an extension to that hobby.
Back around 12 months ago, visits to the allotment consisted of planning, introductions to our allotment space and the like. Over last winter, things tailed off a bit, with visits only being carried out over weekends resulting in weekly updates easily written up in an hour when I got home. Then things started to get a little out of hand.
When the polytunnel arrived and was put up, it opened up a whole new world of possibility. This was quickly followed with sowing time which itself lead to so much work being done over the course of each weekend, and as the lighter evenings started to roll in, allotment jobs increased hugely. Something had to give. I was being so productive on the plot that the simple one hour weekly write up approach was just not enough! Readers of this blog, and my other Astronomy blog, will know that when I start typing away, it can get a bit out of hand. I tend to ramble on. A lot. Suddenly, that one our per week turns into two hours per visit. As visits increase to the plot, two hours per visit mounts up and before you know it, there's enough hours being consumed that it equates into a part time job in it's own right, just for writing a daft blog.
I love our allotment and I happily spend hours each week up there, like many other allotment owners. But the blogging was getting a bit too time consuming. Then, for some reason, I just stopped back in May. Maybe it was because I felt I was spending too much time in front of the computer. Perhaps it was that I'd rather spend another 2 hours on the plot rather than 2 hours writing about it each day.
The 'Shamed' Bit
Reading figures of this blog in particular have never really gone anywhere. Though nearly a year old, only a handful of pages have ever reached double figures in terms of how many times that have been opened. And that's absolutely fine. At the end of the day, it's my diary to look back on. But, it does help and encourage if I see that at least someone is reading my ramblings. Then, I got the kick in the backside I needed to, to write at least one other post. If momentum and mojo return after that, who knows.
This week, we have had our society AGM. For a small society of only around 50 plots total, we had a reasonably good turn out. We had a guest speaker, who was great, and it was an excellent chance to see so many other plot holders in a social setting, rather than shouting an exchange of pleasantries across other plots on the allotment site. Then it happened. One person in particular reminded me that there is a reader out there! Kimberly! And she wasn't long in reminding me that the last time I'd done anything was way back in May. I felt bad. I felt like I was letting the team down. I needed that kick to get back into action and start posting. It's funny what a public shaming can do! 😂
What's Next?
This is what I mean about rambling on. Two sections into this blog of me going on and on, and I haven't actually given you any sort of update yet. Blogs are apparently supposed to be short, to the point, interesting and easy to consume/read. Nobody has half hour to read a web page these days. Readers want to be in, updated and out again within a minute or two. Or perhaps that's just me. I did toy with the idea of a YouTube channel, and I did prepare a few videos. On one hand, it's much quick to film a 10 minute video where there's lots to see and talk about. Of course, a picture is worth a thousand words too. But that idea fell away as the test videos become more half hour than 10 minutes, and then the 2 to 3 hours each video needed to be edited and prepped for publication. I was then in the same predicament as what I go into with the blog. Too much computer time and not enough doing. Maybe there is still room for YouTube, but just YouTube Shorts maybe. No editing, restricted to a couple of minutes.
What's Been Going On?
A post for each visit at the start of this blog proved to be it's undoing. So how am I going to fill you in on 4, nearly 5 months of visits in one post? Not happening. Mostly because I can't remember what I did last week, let alone last month. So the best way I think is to give you a 'here and now' type update and we'll see what happens as we go on. I fully intend on doing a full review of the year at the end of season though, so there maybe more in there.
The main growing season has been tough, with really dry conditions and most areas of the country experiencing drought conditions and hosepipe bans. Nevertheless, lots of watering still means the plot today is looking pretty decent.
Inside the polytunnel, I've got the last remaining aubergine plant, with 2 fruit left on it. I don't know if they will ripen off in time before the temperatures drop off though. I've also got some indoor carrots which are bursting to get out of their raised bed, and the chillis finally produced fruit very late on. I'm even on a second crop of sweet peppers too! I just hope that they ripen before those temperatures drop. One side of staging is now back up and end of Summer sowings are in full flow. I'm making it a mission that I want to use the main polytunnel and the smaller tunnel useful growing space through the winter. There are plenty of things lined up for both, and only this week I have planted a row of calabrese down one side of the main tunnel for the winter.
In the mini polytunnel, some late summer pak choi and lettuce have been planted, both of which should crop by the middle of autumn, but the major success so far are the watermelons. Planted as an experiment at the start of the year, they have produce 5 fruit (although one did split and failed early on). The remaining 4 are at different stages of development, but 2 in particular are getting close to harvest.
Elsewhere in different beds, cauli has struggle with the hot and dry weather, but since the return of the rain, my 3 remaining plants have started to look much more healthy and two of them have now started to form heads. I'll look forward to picking those in the coming week.
Leeks are also ready to crop, although the allium leaf miner has once again left it's mark. I hope that I will be able to salvage many of them. We lost much of last years crop to leaf miner too. Fingers crossed. As a back up though, the local garden centre was selling plugs of leak plants recently. Usually, I wouldn't think of putting them in this late, but I figured that if they were selling them, then they should stand some chance of putting on some size before winter kicks in. Hopefully they will give a good late winter crop next year.
Perhaps the biggest success of this week has been the first row of Sarpo Mira potatoes. We've never grown them before, and also, this is the first time since having the allotment that I have grown potatoes in the ground, usually favouring large tubs instead. I'm pleased to say that it's been a great success in terms of quality, quantity and size. However, there has been a small amount of loss too. Probably through mole activity. Digging around the first row, I come across several mole tunnels, and wherever the tunnel met a spud, the spud had been nibbled. But, can't do much about that! No pictures of these spuds this time, but when the second row is harvested probably next week, I'll take a couple then.
In truth, this is only about half an update. There is so much going on, but this effort has gone on for long enough! Until next time, thanks for reading! (PS, Kimberly, thanks for the kick up the backside 😉)
