Is it all in the planning

Submitted by Marc De'ath

Again, it was raining... but determined to do something constructive on the allotment today, myself and Dean swam across the mud to clear the courgette bed. We got wet, became miserable and cheered ourselves up with a pint at the local pub and discussed getting our act together for the year ahead.

There is no doubt, this year was an improvement on the last, at least double yield and far more variation on our harvest - but again, we cant help but feel we made things a little hard with ourselves - surely it could be easier - less digging and maybe, even less weeding?

So this time round, we going to plan, and plan right down to the last detail too. Determined to prove that with a bit of careful thinking - you can in-fact have an allotment with bountiful results, and not have to be semi retired to make it work. We reckon, with a bit of collaboration you can maintain an allotment with just one day a week - we've not managed yet, but there's still time to prove you doubters wrong.

So, tough decisions had to be made - gone are the salads an in come more onions, spuds, carrots and beetroots, courgettes and squashes etc - the essentials and plenty of 'em.

We'll leave the salads and herbs for the home kitchen garden where they can be tended to on a more regular but flexible basis, a half hour here another 15 there...

...watch this space for our shared garden plan, for how we'll make the most of the veg we're growing at home, and over the next few days we'll be posting our plans for the coming year - come rain or shine...