The year seems to be flying by and already we stand proud on the cusp of May. With long summer days beckoning us tauntingly, and brief icy blasts of frost and cold weather to remind us of the winter slipping by.
It felt like a good moment to reflect on the progress towards my lofty goals for the year. How are things going? What’s been a success or failure? Are there any tweaks to make?
1. Rest:
I’ve just returned from a wonderful holiday visiting family and friends in Kenya for a three week trip. One of my goals was to embrace this time away and mentally adjust my expectations for what I could get done. I knew there would be some bare patches on the allotment at what is a crucial time of year. As it turns out, there was no need to hurry or be worried. The weather has been too cold to plant out and I’m now slowly catching up on filling the beds with transplants. This ‘mental adjustment’ has felt like a success not only because I was able to prepare my beds in advance, but also in terms of being able to ‘let go’ and stop fretting while I was away.
2. A planting plan for the seasons:
This is happily in place and has been a game changer. Even if I’m not following it slavishly, it’s been very helpful to know in advance what is planned to go into each bed. This feels like it has been a success as it’s also helped me figure out what seeds to get in advance. Sowing seeds for later transplanting feels like a much easier task too as the planting plan gives me some good clues as to when to start things.
3. A routine for the different seasons:
Whilst this might sound similar to goal no.2, this my friend is a very different beast. Knowing what to plant, when and where is important- which is what goal no.2 is all about. The ‘Routine’ is all about what to do! You might think it’s easy to ‘intuitively’ know what to do at any given time but not all actions are equal. So I’ve got a routine (outlined here) to guide me through the seasons. I know what to focus on with any visit I make, for instance now its spring most of my efforts go on seed sowing and transplanting. But my routine is very helpful as it reminds me to turn the compost too, which I would very easily forget! A definite success.
4. A target harvest for the year:
This has been a somewhat mixed bag, with some big wins and losses. So far in the past two weeks I’ve had some great harvests of salad leaves, spinach, chard, parsnips, pumpkin and lately rhubarb. However, I’ve not recorded the amounts harvested.
I also know we’ll have some ‘gluts’ and lean times coming as some of my germination has been patchy. This is mostly due to not having the ideal conditions ( consistent heat and sunlight). But I remain hopeful that the position will be recoverable as we get through Spring into Summer. I am also happy to ‘buy in’ or ‘barter’ in plants too as it will all help increase the diversity of what we eat later. The only tweak I’d make is to record the harvests in coming months.
Summary:
Although the plot looks a bit overgrown with weeds coming up quite fast on some ‘empty’ beds, there have been some very welcome harvests in what is traditionally a ‘hungry’ gap. It turns out that whilst I was away on a break, that the weather was unseasonably too cold to make much progress so in a happy coincidence, I’ve avoided that.
Ideally I’d have preferred to have all beds full with plants, but I’m confident I’ll easily manage this over the next few weeks. Both the planting plan and the seasonal routine have formed a handy framework that has helped me avoid the feeling of overwhelm. There is much more to do so as to balance out and provide a consistent harvest from one week to the next, which is where I’ll focus next. Over to you, what is your experience of being away from the allotment? Share your hacks in the comments below.