I received a copy of 'The Half Hour Allotment' by Lia Leendertz for Christmas, which outlines the half-hour principle - a way of maintaining your allotment in just half an hour a day (with weekends off). I thought this would be a good way to stop me feeling so guilty for not spending my weekends there!Basically, you work on your allotment for 30 minutes, 5 days a week. This can be broken down into 3 10 minute tasks if need be. If you only get 2m2 dug, or there's weeds under the raspberries, it doesn't matter, because you'll get more done tomorrow. It also means that I won't end up aching for days because I spend 3 hours digging - I'll just do the work in smaller chunks.
I had a day off today, so decided to see how it would go. It was a glorious sunny morning (though very very windy). I set my timer to 15 minutes, and set about removing weeds from the second bed, next to my over wintering onions and garlic. I got about half a row done before the timer went off. I decided to take another 15 minutes to finish the row. Super - 30 minutes and a huge chunk cleared and dug. I think there's only another 60 minutes (2 30s, 4 15s or 6 10s) left on that section now!
I then decided to do another 30 minutes (not really in keeping with the 30 minute principle, but I really should have gone to the allotment yesterday..). I took heed of the advice not to dig too long, so decided to tackle the arch. The previous tennant, in her wisdom, had decided to use two bramble bushes as climbing plants over a (very flimsey) arch. The arch was leaning at a rather extreme angle, and had broken in several places, and the brambles tried to catch me every time I went past! So after some extreme pruning, and untieing, I extracted the arch, and then folded it in half (sturdy thing) ready to be collected sometime when I'm at the allotment in the car.
I then did another 30 minutes (It'll be dark tomorrow on my way home from work), clearing on the shed, ready for my new wheelbarrow and hoe!
I'll build the wheelbarrow in another 30 minutes this week, which'll take me up to the weekend. Next Monday sunset is at 16.13, so hopefully I'll be able to get about 30 minutes in before dark. I might do some weekendly 30 minutes to compensate for not being able to get to the allotment in the light next week. I'm not allowed on the site after dark.
The book also has a handy section which tells you approximately how much of each fruit/vegetable 4 people will realistically eat. Part of the principle is to grow what you need, not to suffer from gluts. It won't meet all my fruit and vegetable demands for the year. (The book advises against growing main crop potatoes and onions, as they are easily and cheaply available at the supermarket and there is less benefit of growing your own.) That section in the book has helped me refine how much I need to grow, and of what. I set up a little spreadsheet that tells me when to plant each seed, and how many to plant. I'll have to refine my plan of where everything will be planted now!
Such fun :o)
