I never thought we would give up the allotment after seven years of hard work sweat and toil. My fondest memory being the feeling of happiness on those beautiful summer evenings whilst sitting on the bench looking out at the full growth of herbs and plants with the vegetables if not nearly but some ready for picking. As a slight breeze picked up the variety of smells especially the freshly cut grass that shaped the plots beds enhancing the beautiful colours against the green paths and shaded browns of earth which snugly held the plants in place. As the sunset like an alarm clock awoke the wildlife to carefully explore. Whether we love them or not they looked for an opportunity to feast. Rabbits hopped warily about as their heads popped up and down and even if fenced they searched for that piece of ground to dig or a gap to crawl through just to visit natures supermarket. The foxes followed less obvious as they searched for their dinner and so much more came to life as dusk fell and it was time to go home as we hoped when next we visited the least damage to our precious crops was done and there would be some food left for us to take home.
This is how I will remember and reflect the time we have spent on the allotment despite the unhappy tears and setbacks which only motivated us to keep going. The description of those lovely evenings sound romantic but have been the reality and end result of all the hard work especially the back breaking digging !!
Unfortunately the tears are now because a decision has been made. This year has been the hardest as my bad health overwhelmed the beginning of the year despite our plans unfortunately the plot began to overgrow despite Russ working hard to keep the grass down but as the beds dissapeared and the grass and weeds took the place of our once beautiful allotment we have now had to be realistic and accept it will be just like starting over again and as health is a priority we can only say goodbye but with pride look back at our photos and also with closed eyes remember those beautiful summer evenings.
THANKYOU
A special thankyou to Tom and Dennis for their understanding and patience and we wish them well with the allotment society. Also to Pauline for all your support and accompanying me on those bike journeys to and thro the allotments.
THE BLUE GATE BLOG
Thankyou to all who have followed the bluegate blog.
A NEW START FOR THE BLUE GATE
The blue gate will continue but in a much smaller place. So from September 2009 the blue gate blog will start again and our blue gate will open to our new project.....
THE BLUE GATE KITCHEN GARDEN
A small but ideal place to grow veg and herbs just outside our backdoor. So please come back to the blog and follow us as we still continue to grow our own. Starting with the design and how we create our own kitchen garden.
So bye for now and see you in September...
Debbie xx
