20 September 2007
Pros and cons
I’ve been pondering the benefits and downsides of growing vegetables in the garden as opposed to down the allotment. Here are my thoughts:
Pros:
- Less space - more manageable
- Less lawn = less mowing
- Closer to home - easier to pop out for short periods more often
- Not surrounded by people using Roundup
- No bindweed
- Feel better about investing money into garden rather than allotment
- Friends and family don’t think I’m a bonkers allotment lady
- Private - don’t have to be sociable
- No meddlers
- No politics
Cons:
- Will there be enough light? Mostly the garden is in full sun, but I still worry about shade from the encroaching trees in our neighbour’s garden
- Less space - needs far better planning
- Less lawn - will this affect the resale value of the house if we have to up sticks?
- Friends and family now think I’m a bonkers potager lady
- Brambles and dandelions instead of bindweed
- No fellow growers to encourage me or to get tips from
- We planted asparagus in that bloody allotment!!!
Filed under: Potager project — Clare @ 5:38 pm
I think the sociability of an allotment shouldn’t be underestimated - I could really do with all those tips from more experienced gardeners, even if they were sometimes irritating. I know that I’d be a better gardener if I wasn’t a solitary gardener. On the other hand, I can just nip out from the kitchen into the garden, and often do just that as I’m cooking, and holding a torch in my hand. So there are two sides, but those are the two most important issues for me. If your family think you’re bonkers (and mine does) there’s not much you can do about it except give them more reasons!
Good luck with your decision
Joanna
joannasfood.blogspot.com
(20.09.07 @ 5:59 pm)
I miss the sociable side of the Allotment - I shared with Mel and I miss the laughs with her and our neighbouring plotholders. I now pick up a lot of tips from other bloggers in cyber-allotment land.
I LOVE being able to easily water with a hosepipe, pick salad leaves, peas and sweetcorn seconds before cooking. It doesn’t get sun all day but has produced fantastic crops AND I’m planting asparagus teehee!!
(20.09.07 @ 7:10 pm)
I dream about having a garden big enough to grow veg. Would love to have your potager; no more bloody couch grass and marestail. Bliss!
On the other hand, it’s reassuring to see everyone around you suffering from the same pests and diseases – misery loves company. And I’d miss the gleeful schadenfreude of seeing neighbours get something I’ve avoided.
Am I an allotment sociopath?
(20.09.07 @ 7:32 pm)
Joanna, Frankie & Soilman - This was an unexpectedly popular post for comments! I know that so many people love mixing with others at allotments, but I’ve always preferred to avoid people down there if I can possibly help it. Makes me sound like a right old miserable cow, and perhaps I am, but I think it’s more that gardening, growing and cultivation for me are one of the few times I can have some silent thinking time. So much of my working life involves working closely with people that time with my hands in the dirt is a real escape. I always found it a real difficulty that by and large the people at the allotment were so nice which made it difficult to justify not wanting to speak to them for hours on end!
PS. I love the idea of an allotment sociopath. There’s got to be an idea for a series of novels in that…
(20.09.07 @ 10:19 pm)
re the subject of Alloment Sociopaths: This week’s episode of Silent Witness (shown Tuesday night) had a dead body buried in an Allotment..
not quite what you meant, i know!
(21.09.07 @ 2:16 pm)
It’s all good organic matter…
(21.09.07 @ 3:11 pm)
Bury me under the apple tree!
(22.09.07 @ 7:11 pm)
Frankie - What, now? Perhaps we should wait until you’re actually dead.
(23.09.07 @ 6:02 pm)