Clairesallotment's Blog

Another morning spent on the allotment today, and yet more tidying and sorting out to do. The shed I have on my plot is plastic and old. The door is falling off and to keep it shut I have to tie string around it. Why I didn’t take it down the tip last year I don’t know, but I don’t like change and will keep something until it’s clearly had enough. But today I was brave and emptied out my old shed and broke it down. I had a car full of other stuff, so it’ll have to go down the tip tomorrow. The weather is colder than it’s been, so there I was in my wooly hat pootling along very happily. As I was clearing out my shed I came across some stuff down the bottom that I had completely forgotten was there. Namely a sad pair of wellies. They are a little past it and have been squashed past all recognition so I think they’ll need to go to the great welly boot puddle in the sky.

Then when I finally got to the bottom of the shed and cleared everything out, I realised what a mess the shed was in. It’s only when you clean out your shed you realise how much rubbish you’ve accumulate since the last time you sorted it out. I think it’s been about 3 years since I last sorted out this shed, so a note to myself….tidy shed every year. There were some massive spiders that had made their homes in the bottom of the shed, now they’ll have to scurry on somewhere else to find a new place to live. The slugs and snail, well I really don’t care where they go as long as they don’t eat my plants.

It’s always good to have a sort out. Even if it’s just a cupboard or a drawer. But I’m having a thorough sort out of everything on my allotment plot and getting rid of anything that’s past its best. So when the new season starts I’ll have everything ready and they’ll be no extra crap that I don’t need. I’m going through each bed thoroughly and taking away anything that I don’t want and I’ve started to go through the shed that I have. Now I have no idea how it’s still holding together, but it is. I do have a new shed and once I’ve cleared the old one I’ll transfer my tools to the new one. I’ve also emptied out 3 of my small compost bins and have spread the contents over the rhubarb. Anything that hadn’t rotted down properly I’ve moved to the green waste pile on the site. Now is a good time to get everything cleaned and tidy before you start again for the new season. So that was one trip to the tip today with a car full of stuff, tomorrow I’ll do some more and as long as the weather is kind I’ll keep going until it’s all done.

For our family it was a huge shock when Carrie Fisher passed away at the end of last year. We are massive Star Wars fans in our house and it was a sad day for all. We will all look forward to seeing Star Wars VIII when it comes out in the cinema. As a tribute to Carrie Fisher we chimed the Star Wars theme tune at the end of our bell ringing practice the other week. Whoever said bell ringers are boring, clearly hasn’t met the band I ring with. Thank you so much to the other ringers who made this possible.