Wow, what a wild few months it has been! For those who think winter in the garden is time for ‘a well-deserved rest’, you are very, very wrong. I’m not sure I’ve ever worked harder on the allotment! The shed has been revamped with a few luxe elements, the beds have all been topped with two tonnes of fresh, peat free compost ready for the year ahead, the swing seat has been rebuilt, the entire plot has been re-chipped and I have dug up COUNTLESS brambles, nettles and raspberry canes. It’s been hard graft, but I really do love to be busy and exhaust myself over the weekend ready for a fresh week…
Luckily the luxe shed is the perfect place to hideaway when the cold really sinks in, and the camping stove means we’ve been eating gourmet meals (read: cheese toasties, bean chilli and bacon sandwiches) in between jobs and drinking copious amounts of tea to keep warm. I’ve had an army of surprisingly keen volunteers despite the cold too, which has really been the reason we’ve made such a dent in all of the tasks. Solo Shan is very productive, but only up to a point.
I’ve decided to start sharing monthly updates in the form of a blog post, more for my own benefit to reflect on the month past than anything else, but some of you might be interested to hear a little more than the short captions I pop on Instagram, so here you go!
A little ‘exclusive’ for anyone reading: whilst I can’t allotment after dark (I am, to be perfectly honest, VERY scared of the dark), I’ve been working on some little side projects. Podcast recordings have filled lots of my recent evenings, as have planning workshops, but my multi-skilled brother has been helping me out with some podcast ‘merch’ too! The whole idea came about whilst I was looking for some posters to decorate my flat and couldn’t quite find anything I wanted — within a few hours we had a basic concept that I loved.
Back to the gardening life and looking forward, this year is all about flowers and I couldn’t be any more excited. The majority of the plot is now dedicated to flower beds split between focal, filler and foliage for a nice balance in bouquets. I’ve read all three Floret Flower books and listened to many, many hours of flowery podcasts, noting down everything I might want to grow and then whittling down lists which are now almost finalised for the year. Now it’s the patient wait for March to start sowing and planting out.