GOOD – HOUSE/KEEPING – MAKING TIME
Allotment holders as a top tip should consider the equivalent of half an hours work each day on their plot as a minimum time to achieve reasonable results. People often have to multitask juggling work, family time & allotment gardening. This makes plotting how much time you will have to dedicate to your allotment difficult to gauge.
A couple of hours a week may see you through the quiet season in the winter months, but by early Spring you will need to think about setting aside much more time for sowing seeds & planting. You need to put in an appearance at least once a week just to keep on top of the weeds & pests. The more complex the plot, the more time you will probably have to spend keeping it in line. Following a regular routine with your visits, set days & evenings every week – should make it easier to allocate ongoing tasks on the plot to plan start & finish dates. Taking a more scatter gun approach of squeezing in visits when you can, or not at all when time is tight, can see you falling behind on sowing planting & tidying up jobs. Growing seasons are tight & a measure of good housekeeping on the plot is really important to hit all those deadlines. So basically its all a balancing act. Nothing beats the excitement & anticipation of the simple act of pulling up a carrot or digging up your “spuds” that have been hidden for months underground, like buried treasure. The truth is once people have started with the joy of allotment gardening, they find it hard to make time for anything else.
Blog by Mark Burton (Allotment Secretary)
