69 - Hunky Dory celebrates her First Birthday!

 One year ago I was overjoyed to finally rent an allotment in a well-established large allotment community on the outskirts of my hometown. It was large, completely planted up with veg, had a greenhouse and a shed, and I fell in love with it instantly.

Looking towards the greenhouse

One year on, with Covid lockdown, an accident which left me in pain for that entire year, and many major storms and a three-month drought, I have something at least resembling a garden.

The soil

And all the grief with rock hard heavy clay which turns into a huge puddle when it rains (free-draining? Ha!!!), slug armies lying in wait in the ditch, rampant potatoes which have sprouted everywhere and quite a few plants who are struggling to get their roots down or who have given up the ghost, has NOT deterred me. I am as determined to make Hunky Dory into a gorgeous garden as a year ago, be it slightly more realistic about what I can actually manage on a tight budget and with a still wonky right arm.

That soil needs to be worked around. It is not easily sorted out, and I do not have the patience to wait until yearly composting has finally improved it enough for me to get a spade in. So the plan is to raise all my beds, gradually. It will give me instant good soil, and in the long run I can keep gardening with my walker until they carry me from my plot (I have visions where I have keeled over amongst my zucchini at 85, peacefully dead in dappled shade from their leaves)

The greenhouse

The greenhouse faces South

The greenhouse also needs a makeover. I'd like raised shelving on one side (easier on my back), and a bed for the taller plants on the other. The shelf I have now does not do, as it is in direct sunlight and I get dizzy from the glare when I try to work there.

The shed

And do not start me on that shed. Large, no daylight (no electricity either), a work bench where my back is to the door (and I hate that) and full of things (polite term) I have no use for. The plan is to make a door on the opposite side, move the work bench, have a side window to let in some light. But I will have a person with knowledge take a good look at it first, to see if that old plywood thing is worth the money and effort.

October 2021

The dog

My plan to take along dog Puck has been shelved. She simply is not happy there (what, no digging? And dogs cannot walk around freely, you want me back on a chain? Seriously?), and has made that very clear on each occasion by whining within 10 minutes. She never whines at home! So she stays home, where she is Queen of the house, and I work in the garden around her schedule. It is what it is. (I am very Zen about Puck. She gives me all her doggie love and support, so I give her mine, we are a pack of two)

So there you are. Hunky Dory is a work in progress, and will no doubt look very different in another year's time.

The frog pond

But until then I revel in her greenness, rejoice in her flowers and veg and sing whilst I am topping up the frogless frog pond (to be fair it does have lovely plants, water insects and a very sassy resident duck). Do visit Instagram@songsmith2962 and Pixelfed@DutchDeltaWoman for lots more garden photos and stories.