I started writing this post two years ago now – I guess things got a bit busy…but I’m determined to keep a Devon allotment diary! I think it’s only appropriate to leave the title photograph as what appears to be an early pear from back then. Hopefully this post will fill the gap between back then and now – I do still have an allotment, and it’s going quite well, but it’s been a journey and I do want to talk about it!
The pear tree’s gone now – just one major change I’ve made over the past couple of years. It was taking up a lot of space and not producing enough decent-quality fruit. I was able to topple it with a couple of pushes, revealing what I suspect to be the main problem – it wasn’t well-rooted and so unable to get the water/nutrients it needed to flourish.
It’s ok to fail, so long as you learn!
2023 was pretty unsuccessful – just a couple of photos below – I did try to grow some pumpkins, but even they died!!! I didn’t visit the plot enough, didn’t weed enough, didn’t water enough and frankly didn’t care enough.
2024 was a little better
I was more determined to succeed in 2024, and even took more photos! Things started off quite well, with the installation of a mesh tunnel to protect my cabbages and sprouts. I removed the raspberry forest too, since it wasn’t producing anything (it turned out that my eldest daughter was sneaking down and pinching them as they ripened…)
The mesh tunnel was great to begin with – it did a fantastic job of protecting my seedlings from most of the wildlife out there.
Unfortunately I didn’t place it in a great place which meant that controlling the undergrowth around it was difficult.
It’s not all about gardening
Looking through my photos, I had quite a busy summer, and while it was a lot of fun, not a lot of my activities were Devon-based and so not relevant here. I did spend a fair amount of time paddleboarding on the Exeter canal though…maybe I should post about that at some point.
Mixed success on the plot
Anyway, back to the allotment. I grew some Dahlias:
The cabbages and sprouts were doing relatively well in the mesh tunnel, but there were early signs of animal interference…
…in fact, things got so bad that I lost most of the plants in the tunnel to what I think were mice! I think I worked out that the two cabbages that I salvaged from the plot in 2024 cost me about £20 each…
Things weren’t all bad. I got a few apples, hundreds of blackberries and a regular supply of tasty potatoes.
While it wasn’t a complete failure, 2024 wasn’t as successful as I’d hoped. I had constant struggles with grass growing everywhere, I still wasn’t getting to the plot enough to make a dent in the jobs I had, and it still felt like I was fighting a losing battle.
Lessons learned
I think the lessons learned from this period of my allotment-ing experience are threefold:
Listen to the voice of experience
firstly, take the advice of existing tenants seriously – I was told to focus on fixing up a tiny portion of the plot to begin with, and doing it well. For the first two years I ignored that and tried to grow a variety of plants across the whole plot. I quickly became overwhelmed with the amount of work I’d taken on and wasted a lot of time & money trying to scrape through, with disappointing results.
Keep at it
People say that allotments are a big commitment with good reason. If you can’t get down there at least once a week, you’re going to be in trouble. In reality 2-3 times a week, for an hour or so, seems to be the ideal frequency for me. Heading down with clear goals for a session (other than watering) makes a difference too.
And finally…
At the end of this season I decided that 2025 was going to be different – drastic changes needed to be made to the plot, and I’ll follow up with more details in future posts.