Seeking a simpler, less frantic and much slower way of life.

greenbee

I'm aiming to achieve a few things today. I've sown fennel, lettuce, radishes and kohl rabi. As you can imagine this took all of about 5 minutes. Watered the greenhouse. And am doing holiday/visitor laundry (endless towels and sheets which mean using the TD as it keeps raining). Other than shoving things in and out of machines, I plan to get a decent amount of reading done and eat as much of my home-grown lettuce, courgettes, tomatoes, beans and chard as I can. So quite a bit of lying on the sofa with a book is scheduled. 

I do also have my robot slaves doing the hoovering. One of the best investments I've made. 

[Deleted User]

Oh goodness me, don't for a second think we live in anything but a totally equal relationship we make joint decisions after mulling over all aspects, we always have and always will, we are strong.  It's not solely OH who works and runs the allotments, I don't have to stand up to him and say no more veg,  how you can interpret the fact that it's a bumper year and I have more tomatoes than I can reasonably handle as me being a repressed and under the thumb woman is a little odd! As for preserving in the heat, if anyone knows of a way in which to persuade the crop to only ripen and glut in cooler weather I'd appreciate knowing how that works too.  The things we grow keep us fed for a fair part of the year and I love doing the work it's this year that's given me problems because there is such a bumper crop.  I make what I make, I stop when I've enough made and feel satisfied.  It's the bumper years that are the problem when there is more than we actually need but it seems a crying shame to let it go to waste, even if we put it out as 'free please take' so is everyone else , the village is awash with tomatoes in boxes on drives.  I can always compost what I don't need but that seems such a waste.

needmoney

I'm sure nobody thought you are "a repressed and under the thumb woman" lol you seem too strong a personality for that.

On a brighter not how did your coffee meet up go?

joannaber

Each to their own, but I still think 2 allotments is OTT. Maybe somebody else is on a waiting list for one?

maryb

A lot of sites subdivide plots so some may be quite small so 2 isn't necessarily a vast acreage.  But even a small allotment can turn into a burden at certain times of year.  The secret is letting go of guilt

C_J

I'm full of admiration for anyone who tends an allotment of any size - although I do love gardening, there are times when it's difficult to summon up the enthusiasm or energy to get all the jobs done in my kitchen garden, and that's just outside my door. I honestly doubt that I would do half as much if I had to travel to an allotment site to do it, so hats off to all of you who do this so successfully!

Nargleblast

Boazu, you have indeed had a lot of input on this thread from over 20 different people. If you are still feeling overwhelmed with all that is going on, can I suggest you go back to the start of the thread and re-read and digest every post? Everyone who has posted on here has posted wise, practical and caring advice on how to step back and simplify things in these strange times. We each have to look out for our own physical and mental wellbeing, but at the same time we can support each other through this. Life has changed for most of us, and those that survive bad times are the ones who accept what they cannot change and change what they can. This is the OS forum, Covid ain't gonna beat us!

greenbee

maryb said:

A lot of sites subdivide plots so some may be quite small so 2 isn't necessarily a vast acreage.  But even a small allotment can turn into a burden at certain times of year.  The secret is letting go of guilt

I hate killing the plants I don't need if too many germinate And you can't always find people who want to take them off your hands. But I am getting better at pinching out, and in some cases composting immature fruits (tomatoes in particular) in order to reduce quantities. I'm also feeding the compost with anything that's not good quality (like things the woodlice/slugs/wasps have tested first) - I have a hotbin which I use for 'food' type waste and weeds, as well as a big compost heap for river weed and grass cuttings. 

-taff

I'm picking the runners at the moment and anything that looks the least bit over mature [ they get a kind of ribbed shiny look to them when they are] gets chucked on the earth on the bed. I'm not fighting with my food....But I can feel a runner bean picallili coming on...

C_J

I’m terrible at selective culling too, if a veg seed has done me the courtesy of germinating, I feel an obligation to find somewhere to plant it out even if space is limited!

I’ve refined my behaviour a bit this year by creating a spreadsheet (I *love* a spreadsheet!) of how much of each veg we actually need during a year, and only growing that number of plants. For example, we like swede and will have a swede/potato mash with a Sunday roast a few times a year, and it makes a great topping to a shepherd’s pie as a change from just plain potato - but I worked out we’d only use 8 swede over the next 12 months so that is all I have grown (instead of an entire row). It was a bit of work in the initial planning stage but now it’s simplified things tremendously.