New Beginnings

Not going to be a long post - just enough to get me up and running again. Once again, not blogging doesn't mean I haven't been digging. We've had another very good and productive year, albeit with some failures, naturally.

Putting the brassicas beneath a young oak tree didn't help, but earlier this year my neighbour and I set to the surrounding bushes and trees with a petrol hedge trimmer and banished most of the shade from the top end. This was not achieved without pain.

My neighbour was fine, she is younger and sturdier than me - but days later my back collapsed with the strain of carrying (what felt like) a ton of metal around. We were a bit gung ho with the power tools, swinging it around like Arnie in Predator, but I didn't survive the encounter.
Well yes I did, I'm exaggerating. It was a while ago now.

I have to write something because now my neighbour has given up the plot. There was no acrimony or anything like that - she is simply carrying an addition to her family (and moving house). I don't think she is moving away because of me - having said that, I did once play the melodeon at her in the street, which would have embarrassed anyone enough to move to another town.

I had some immediate interest in the allotment. There is after all, a three year waiting list so I believe. So I asked her for the key to the site, thinking I would need it sooner rather than later. However, the two people who said they'd like to share the plot, had a think, and decided it was too much for them. I won't print my thoughts on that.

Funny though isn't it, how having just one shared interest with someone, can make you friends with that person when you probably have nothing else in common. My neighbour and I shared food and cooked it on the allotment. We had children who played together, who shared and explored a huge green space, and ate peas and raspberries together straight from the plants.
We got drunk together while choosing pumpkin varieties. We felt a shared sense of achievement when our efforts were rewarded with produce. That's all finished now. End of an era, in a way.

The plot has green manure on it, and some is covered. I'm leaving the parsnips in a bit longer, but other than that, it's a clean slate again, and I'm on my own next year. Wish me luck!

Here is a pic from early summer - before the growth really kicked in. I've taken lots of pics on my phone but I'm useless at technology and can't get them on to the pc. I will make a resolution to take the other camera in future.