giving up allotment - fallen out of love with it a bit.

[BigDahliaFan]

I have the choice of keeping a whole (very large) allotment, keeping half, or giving up altogether.

I've barely been up this year, combination of poor weather, new dog, new house with a garden (but no room for veg really) where I previously had just a back yard....

I don't really have the time anymore but I'm finding it hard to give up on something that I've had for 12 years and previously put a lot of time into.

I could limp on with half a plot till I retire (4 years or so) or just give it up.

I've fallen out of love with it I think....

Any experiences?

Do you think you will take it up again after retirement? I’d possibly keep up with half a lowish maintenance plot if so. It does depend a bit on how challenging it is to get an allotment plot. Do you think you’ll regret it in the long term if you gave it up completely?

Id also look at community growing projects as an alternative. We have an organic cooperative and they have an enormous field so you can dip in and be helpful with planting / picking / weeding when you are free but without massive commitment. Many hands make light work.

How easy is it to get a plot back in your area?

How realistic is it you will use it at retirement?

Could you just turn it over to something low maintainance for the next 4 years?

Agree with the question around whether you will do more again in retirement? And if that idea is one that makes you feel excited and positive or not! If yes to both questions, I’d keep half a plot and go seriously low maintenance - but in a load of perennial stuff that doesn’t need loads of maintenance- strawberries, rhubarb. Maybe think about some crops you’d like to have but take ages to get to maturity and put in the structures for those - asparagus or fruit frees, a lavender hedge? Maybe do something totally different - I’ve been growing lots of flowers on my plot this year for vases - dahlias/zinnias/cosmos need loads of space and very little maintenance…

At the moment what I'd really miss is the 2 plum trees...but is it worth keeping up for those sun warmed plums where I eat a load and then end up giving away trug fulls.

I also grow blackcurrants but don't seem to have the time/inclination to make jam anymore.

The way it's laid out, my stupid fault, means the paths between beds are grass that need strimmed every week, a hedge that needs cut twice a year and that's before I've even started growing anything. So that kind of maintenance takes up a lot of the time that's available.

And I don't have the time or energy to make it more maintenance free.

Will I miss it in retirement? I'm really not sure, it might just be a huge relief.

It was incredibly important for me to have my own space there as I was living in a small house with 3 teenage step children half the time and that was my escape.

Maybe I just don't need the escape anymore?

Maybe it's time to plan a new layout? I'd accept the reduction in size, keep the plum trees and turn it into something more in tune with yourself nowadays?

Sounds like the allotment is just an added pressure for you. Keeping it up for four years on the off chance you might want to pick it back up when you retire sounds like stringing that pressure out.

Could you reduce to a half plot (hopefully keeping the plum trees) and make it into more of a retreat? Have a week now or in early spring where you make it less of a maintenance burden by changing the design then in the spring pick up in a much more relaxing way.

Could you turn it to a forest garden? Or just grow fruit as that seems less effort than veg?

I'd also half the plot and restructure for easier maintenance.

I think basing your decision on this year's feelings might be a mistake. You've obviously had a lot going on and the weather has been awful for gardening, there haven't been many of the "oh how lovely" wins that make the hard work worth it.

You can always give up the half plot you keep at a later date if you're still not getting on with it.

@Butterflyfern yes this year it's been really hard to see it as anything but a real chore and we had no produce from it at all apart from some gooseberries and some cut flowers. Nothing cropped well, not even the plums!

I can put half of it to sleep for the winter and hope that whoever gets the other half is nice!

I would get in contact with your local permaculture group and see if you can get fresh ideas for long-term easy maintenance growing. Considering the rarity of getting an allotment, I'd work really hard to hang onto it - you can't undo that decision. Get some ideas together over the winter, don't make any rash decisions yet!

It was a miserable year this year - late cold spring and not much summer to write about, plus your dog will be a year older and more manageable next year. I think you'd regret giving up, especially if we have a lovely warm spring and a long summer next year. Why not give it one more year? Put the whole thing down to something that won't take much effort (although I am wracking my brains to think what that might be...), maybe some potatoes which will cover the ground and not need too much in the way of maintenance apart from water once they're in?

Are you allowed to plant flowers on your allotment? Some good ground cover that makes the place look cared for, and concentrate on the paths and hedging, and see what kind of spring/summer we get next year. This year's weather has been enough to turn even Alan Titchmarsh away from gardening.

@Vroomfondleswaistcoat This year's weather has been enough to turn even Alan Titchmarsh away from gardening. Hasn't it just!

It won't be impossible to get another one if I gave it up. But, despite my slightly doomy musings above underneath it all I did have a very productive allotment, with good soil, when I had more time to care for it so I'm not sure I'd want to start again with an unknown one.

I think the advice to halve it and give it one more year at least is sound. If I don't regain the love then I'll be able to give it up with a clear conscience.