20 years!

[retropants]

I've been tending and growing veg, fruit and flowers on my plot with my mum and dad for 20 years this year! where did that go then?

also, I am officially the rhubarb queen! ours is MASSIVE this year, and it was huge last year. It is particularly sentimental for me, as my late grandad used to grow huge rhubarb, and my mum seems to think I may have finally outdone him. I have made a special effort to make it feel at home since I moved the patch 5 years ago, as it was looking decidedly wan for a couple of years.

[Flanjamin]

20 years on the same plot? No wonder your rhubarb does well!

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Retropants, i would say your Grandad is mighty proud of you, when he's looking down.

[Primrose]

That's quite a record and nice to have that kind of continuity.
You've made me realise I've been growing veg in our garden for 35 years now which is a terrifying thought when I think how quickly the years seem to have passed.

And an interesting byproduct is the fact that our garden borders are now about 8 inches higher than our next door neighbours on either side due to the slow accumulation of added compost and manure over the years. When we had some new fencing installed recently we had to have conrete gravel boards installed at the base of the fence because the increased soil level when it was wet had been causing the bottom parts of the fence to rot !

Yes, my rhubarb is massive too this year. We'll be all "rhubarbed out" before long at this rate. When I was a kid my granny used to give me a stick of rhubarb to dip into sugar and suck when sweets were on ration ! I don't suppose kids do that any more these days!

[retropants]

my mum has fond memories of eating early rhubarb dipped in sugar!

OH, thankyou! I first dug my grandad's allotment (which is now a car park) when I was fifteen. that was nearly 30 years ago now! some of our existing rhubarb is from the plants we moved from his plot. not sure which ones, but it's nice to keep them going all this time.

[Primrose]

Yes, there's something rather nostalgic about plants you've inherited from family or friends. About 30 years ago a friend gave me a small quantity of bunching perpetual onions. Every year I've split and divided them and over the years have lost track of how many i've shared and given away.
Also when we moved to this house a friend gave me a couple of clumps of snowdrops in the green as we didn't have any. They've flourished and increased over the years and I always think of her in Spring when they start blooming.

Perhaps a secret enemy sneaked in one night and gave me some oxalyis weeds too. We didn't have it growing in the garden when we first came here. Now the darned stuff is everywhere !

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Retropants, may i ask who the pretty lady on your new avatar is?

[retropants]

of course OH, it's me at a friend's wedding a few years ago!! (and thankyou for the lovely compliment!)

[oldherbaceous]

OOOOOOOPS what must you think of me, Retropants, i thought you were going to say it was a famous actress, which not watching hardly any television, i know very few.

[retropants]

you loon!

that's the nicest thing I've heard for a long time, thankyou. although, in this pic I was scrubbed up for a wedding in the summer. I cannot claim to look like that usually! at the allotment I look like a refugee from Glastonbury festival

[Shallot Man]

OH. You are a great smoothie.

[retropants]

indeed he is!