Topic: Time to call it a day

[ACE]

Now the Yeti in pink knickers has retired we are away most of the time in the motor home and will start performing again at folk festivals and a pub near you soon. The allotment is getting neglected and what with the lack of rain nothing is thriving as it should, and with my restrictions on not being able to eat most root veggies I can grow what I need at home with water timers etc. Decided to hand the plot on to somebody with more time after I have harvested what survives this season. The rotovator has been sold, shed nearly empty of tools which are now at home. I'll miss the craic but I'm still having fun and exercise revamping the garden. I'll still keep in touch on here so you haven't heard the last of me. Happy digging everybody.

[Tee Gee]

Having done the same I know where you are coming from.

To be honest on reflection I don ‘t know how I found the time to cultivate mine.

Like you I have found other pursuits take up lots of my time, plus the garden at home is acccounting for much of my time now,particularly this year what with this warm weather.

I think it has been the most trying time I have ever had over my 40+ years allotmenteering what with the heat and lack of rain. It hasn’t rained here for over a month now and my soil is snuff dry.

In fact I was speaking to someone the other day about temperatures particularly from March to May when in days of yore my preoccupation was keeping my seedlings relatively warm and frost free.

Now I am finding that I am trying to keep them relatively cool which is something I am not really geared up for what with my two greenhouses and three cold frames.

When I got up this morning the monitor I have in the house to keep me informed of the temperatures in my greenhouses was reading 117 degrees in old money (47 C)

Too bl** dy warm to work in my greenhouse this morning as I had planned.

So will have to find something indoors to do ( and there is plenty) as it is much cooler in here.

So good luck with you future and again like you I try to keep in touch with the gang at Allotments 4all
 

[Tiny Clanger]

Oh Ace, so very sorry to hear this. Love reading your stuff. We too are struggling now with arthritis, husbands heart and grandchild care duties. Evening struggles as "Bhisti Wallah/Walli" are getting harder. Stay in touch, your advice and comments are always useful and entertaining - especially for someone like me that struggles with horticulture. All the very best and Happiness for you and you family xx

[cambourne7]

Sorry to hear this. But understand fully why and look forward to updates on your new adventures.

[Tulipa]

Yes Ace please don't leave us completely. tales of your escapades in your motor home will be most welcome and you can still pass on your expertise like Tee Gee and others do.  Enjoy the touring and folk festivals, at least they will give you plenty of people to chat to, that is what I still miss gardening at home, the stopping for a natter with fellow allotmenteers....

[Obelixx]

Good luck with your new adventures ACE.

Agree that the natter is key.  I've never had an allotment but in Belgium I started a gardening group for like-minded people and we'd visit each others' gardens and share tips, triumphs, woes and plants.  Since we moved here I've joined a gardening club to have the same chance to exchange experiences, knowledge, seeds and plants.

The natter is important for much more tho - sharing a joke, having a rant, supporting people feeling a bit down or bouncing with joy.

[Deb P]

I expect most of us will have to face the same decision sooner or later….If we end up moving and get a good sized garden I think I would be tempted to do the same, at the moment I’m doing a lot of work at both home garden and allotment and just about keeping on top of things. We are still going to a few festivals like Bearded Theory which attracts the more mature punter rather than a bunch of teenagers getting drunk and leery, although we don’t do camping because of his Lordships dodgy knees and my dodgy back which require a decent bed these days! 😂

[saddad]

Sorry to hear this ACE, you will be missed on the "site" but hopefully not leaving our site...

[small]

Very wise to quit before it gets a millstone round your neck, and you have other things to move onto.
I've had to stop everything but pots, lettuce and tomatoes. mine is a home plot so next year it'll just get mowed with the rest of the grass. But this year, I've just left it, and it is a wonderful display of wildflowers - red and purple poppies, foxgloves, marigolds - it makes me realise how much work I used to keeping it weedfree! Good luck Ace and keep in touch.

[picman]

Ace, Hope you have opened a happy new chapter to your life Yes we will all get there eventually, what with all the hurdles we have to get over now. I feel the clock is ticking , I been at it 24 years 

[Beersmith]

Keep posting.  Your contributions to the watershed have been most appreciated.

I have already formulated plans to wind down as age gradually makes it more difficult to keep my plots in good order.  In many ways my most productive plot (at least in financial terms) is the one that requires least work. With several apple trees grassed down, fruit cage with a good assortment of soft fruit, asparagus bed, rhubarb, plum tree and cherry. I'm hoping to still be pottering on this one long after my creaking joints prevent me digging spuds or much else.

Good fortune to you Ace in all your endeavours!

[BarriedaleNick]

It's always good to quit on your own terms and go when you know you are ready. Good to hear you will continue to post and continue to garden, I think once it is in the blood it is almost impossible to stop gardening.  I felt miserable leaving my old plot - so many good mates and endless chats about nothing but we all have to move on at some point.

[ACE]

As mine is the prime spot that you are able to get a load of dung tipped straight on it instead of barrowing it all down the site, it has been snapped up by another plot holder who is going to give his up. Our rents run from sept 1st. so I have agreed to let him start on half of it rent free for 4 months providing I can harvest my squash in late oct and he will water them when I am away if needed.

[ACE]

Handed the key in as my squash seeds must have got mixed up and all the plants grew as courgettes. So the new plot owner already has a glut he has to get rid of. Picked all the soft fruit, so nothing left to do on the plot really. Gardenwise at home I set to on my boundary hedge that had really grown  wide over the years, reclaimed about 75square metres of garden which is now covered in treated  extra large pallet collars for raised beds. The neighbours are going to love me when the manure I need to fill them arrives. Some huge palm trees that were little plants when I popped them in the ground had to come out, that was a mission and a half, they don't saw or chop. had to chip away the wood with a sharpened bolster and cut all the coir out with a stanley knife as it just clogs the saw. Devising an underground watering system which will be on a timer to irrigate all the raised beds and already cropping the two courgette plants I kept.

[Tulipa]

Sounds like you have been busy Ace, will be nice to just pop outside to pick the odd courgette etc. Enjoy your new little plot :)

[Tee Gee]

As they say," You can take the man out of the Allotment, but you can't take the Allotment out of the man.

I hope you enjoy your new venture.

The only problem I have is; because the garden is just out the back door I find the plants seem not to grow as fast as they did on the Allotment, simply because I am looking at them every minute of the day!

Other than that I am loving it!

[ACE]

Nearly all the old garden cleared, we decided to start with a clean slate. Flowery bits for my wife to potter in, unproductive orchard thinned out, just the pears and a russet left. Enough room for all the raised beds and a central space for a geodesic dome instead of the usual shape poly tunnel. Now the motorcycles are gone from the garage (new shed for the old chopper) the car can park in there and the motorhome has its own parking space so the big parking area has been reclaimed. 6 weeks touring in a couple of weeks so I'll get the beds filled with manure ready for our return, then I can start growing again.

[ACE]

We have been travelling around the uk for about 6 weeks and came back to a jungle, mowing, strimming and dead heading the flowers all done. A load of manure ordered to fill the dozen raised beds, turf ordered for the revamped flower garden and already to get back to a bit of gardening. Also planning the geodesic dome and ordering the materials to get that underway. The russet apple tree has gone mad and although there were loads of fallers there is plenty of fruit to pick and wrap for the winter. Can't beat a russet and blue cheese for a nice treat.