On Tue, 14 Apr 2009, Ed wrote:

Got my new shed now on the allotment and am well pleased with it and
use it to store my tools (spade, fork, hoe, rake, etc.) and all the
other small bits and pieces that are essential for gardening work.

But should I lock the shed door with the key when I leave? Or just
leave it unlocked with the wheelbarrow upturned against it?

What do people here usually do?

I had an allotment in Reading for fifteen years until last year.
Although others on the site had sheds and rarely had any burglaries, I
didn't like to do this and kept all my tools at home which was about one
and a half miles away. If I'd had a shed on the allotment I could have
cycled to the site instead of spending half an hour loading up my car
(and my trailer if I was taking the cultivator) with tools and then
another half an hour unloading at the end, not the mention the fuel I
used which, because of the short journey, was a very inefficient way of
using the car.

Because of this I found I had less and less time to devote to the
allotment. As I get older and despite being retired, I'm getting more
and more work (I'm an organist) and so going out on the allotment for a
few minutes here and a few minutes there became impossible and so,last
year, I felt so guilty about keeping an allotment which was not being
used properly when there were so many people on the waiting list to get
one, I decided to give it up. Or putting it another way, I thought I
would jump before I was pushed!

However, as some here may remember, I do have a large garden here in
France where I have around a hundred vines and a cider apple orchard as
well as a kitchen garden. I don't have to load the car up to go anywhere
and I can just go out and do a few minutes here and there when I feel
like it. However in practice I spend a week over here every four or five
weeks in the summer months which, though not ideal, works well enough
for me to keep the grass and the weeds under control and keeps us not
only in wine and cider throughout the year but supplies most of our
vegetables as well.

And as I'm in France at the moment I'd better not waste any more time
sitting at my computer and get out and clear up the grass I cut
yesterday before doing some rotovating! Rain is promised for this
afternoon but French forecasts are so inaccurate in this area (the
Suisse Normande) that I'll believe it when I see it!

David
--
David Rance
writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France