I originally took on my allotment from the local council about 5 years ago, shortly after we moved into the area, things have changed so much there over the years, but I am still not on top of it. I wonder if you can ever be "on top" of mother nature? This year I knew that I didn't want to over do it by planting loads of different, exotic vegetables, so stuck with what I know works and what I could manage. With it being such a dry hot summer things didn't flourish as much as they could have if I had watered on those dry days but I still
harvested a modest amount of food considering how little work I put in. It is so difficult to get down there with a toddler in tow, he is so curious and loves to explore so I have to either go there and hope he falls asleep in the car on the way or wait until I can go there with someone else who can watch him while I get on. I am still so thankful to have it though it will be wonderful when Boris is a bit older and I won't have to worry about him eating something he shouldn't or wandering into other peoples' plots.
So now I am just starting to shut everything down at the allotment in preparation for both winter and my impending childbirth, covering the ground in plastic and picking the last of the harvest, a few small beetroots and, some runner beans and a couple of courgettes. My mum helped me a couple of weeks ago, tidying the edges, tucking everything under the plastic and laying more plastic to keep the weeds at bay.
So I thought it was a pretty good time to do a little review with some photos of the allotment I took a few weeks ago. I can't believe how much the weather has changed in such a short amount of time! We were in the heart of summer what seemed like yesterday and now it seems like everything is closing down.
So here is what went down:
The last of the courgettes
The last of the rather straggly looking
runner beans,
Small harvest
View of the whole allotment, my mum
helped me put down the black plastic.
