[diarish] the anatomy of a trip to the allotment

[kaberett]

First things first: park up and unload. (At the moment, the trug usually contains two litres of filtered water for the plants to drink plus 1.5l of water for me to drink plus a small watering can plus any other bits and pieces that seemed wise.) Everything goes onto the picnic table under the cherry tree; plant-drink and watering can move in to the greenhouse to warm up. (See how the cherries are progressing.)

Check the temperature. Check how wilty the tomatoes are and coo over them with mild concern. Check to see if anything else has germinated. Use the can in the greenhouse to water the lemon and the tomatoes in the bed. Gently fondle any new tomato flowers.

Spend the next... while... traipsing back and forth (currently, mostly on the Tramper) to the water tank. Water: the peas/beans/squash (two beds); the tomatoes and onions (one bed); the shallots and garlic (two small beds); optionally the Ribes; and fill the can up one last time to go back into the greenhouse to (1) warm up and (2) provide humidity.

(Intermittently get distracted by checking plants and pulling up bindweed and and and.)

Weeding: anywhere from "a few token bits of bindweed" to "a full bucket and then some". I'm trying to alternate maintenance (on beds under cultivation) and progress (on beds to bring into cultivation).

Infrastructure: tweaking the fruit cage or the greenhouse (or the waterbutt). Setting up (or maintaining) tomato (or pea or bean) supports. Wrangling a raised bed some (filling in; constructing). Processing the products of the compost bin.

Eventually, when all's said and done, feeding the bin. But: watering, plus at least a little weeding, plus at least a little infrastructure, with watering first and the other two as the mood takes me.

Comments

[cesy]

It's exciting seeing your allotment grow.

[vass]

That's some very good work.

[highlyeccentric]

You have to bring your own water to the allotment? I somehow supposed they would have.... taps, hoses, or some such?

[ewt]

I think the filtered water is for tender special plants in the greenhouse, and everything else comes from the dip tanks.

[kaberett]

ys, as ewt says, I have a few wee plants that are Precious and Delicate and turned their noses up at unfiltered (mains) water last time I tried giving it them when they were wee; as they're growing up, though, they seem to be developing more robust constitutions, so I'm hoping to do away with this part of the proceedings relatively soon...

[ewt]

I am starting to find that it works best for me to attend to one area (watering, weeding, fussing over plants), then the next, then the next. If I try to do all the watering at once it's... a lot. And I can't actually do that much weeding at once, even with the hoe, or I hurt myself. My brain wants to do all the watering, then all the weeding, then all the tidying, but my body is not up for it.

[ewt]

(Also I have been putting one watering can from the dip tank into my water butts every time I'm there and it's not too busy, so that when it is busy and the dip tanks are nearly empty, I can still water on the schedule I need to; but I don't really have plants that are insistent on rain or filtered water.)

[kaberett]

(I've been dithery about that because What If Preserve Rainwater For Delicate Plants but actually I think everything's in the process of developing a robust enough constitution that it's FINE and I can just... start doing this.)

[kaberett]

I am... definitely spending a lot of time sat down and staring into space or reading books between watering can fill-runs. Swapping around would probably be more time-efficient but honestly a lot of what I'm doing at the allotment is spending time outdoors in a way that I don't feel has much time-pressure on it, so... "sit and recover for a bit" is working quite well for me as a set-up.

Sympathy for your brain. <3

[jesse_the_k]

Busy and productive you!