Why keep a blog?

This is my first ever post on my first ever blog.

So why am I writing it? Basically I want to suggest  to any other veg growers out there that it is possible to succeed without slavishly following what either the "Experts" say, or what your father/grandfather insisted was the best way of doing things, or indeed what the other allotmenteers around you insist is correct.

When I started growing my own food I, like many others, followed Dr Hessayon's advice. But if his hugely influential "Expert" series is "the box", then nowadays my heroes are people who dare to think outside it, like Bob Flowerdew, Charles Dowding and even, bless him, Monty Don on occasion. And also the late John Seymour, whose visions of self-sufficiency encouraged me to aim high.

I am starting to get decent crops from my allotment, without the huge amounts of effort that most people assume is necessary. I usually spend 10 to 12 hours a week on my 2 plots, less if the weather is poor and maybe a bit more at peak times, but not an excessive amount.

My neighbours shake their heads when they see  me using fixed beds, not digging every winter, growing more than one crop in a year, not earthing up my spuds, etc. But much of what I do works.  I do make mistakes, lots of them. Some of my ideas simply don't work and have to be scrapped or modified. I promise to be ruthlessly honest when things have gone wrong. But I will also pat myself on the back and crow when they succeed.

But, and I know I am repeating myself here, it is allowed to think for yourself, to try out new ideas, to go against the grain. And it's fun!

I intend to keep this blog for at least one calendar year, but hopefully more, starting in detail at the end of the coming winter, in early February 2012. Which is when, for me, the gardening year begins. Before that I plan to publish a few posts describing my gardening practices in general terms, plus the occasiobal description of what I do to tuck the allotment up ready for winter.

A by product of keeping this blog is that it will help me with what I see as one of my weakest points, record-keeping. Oh yes, and as I am also the cook of the family, I may well describe what I do with what I grow and give the odd recipe. Maybe not. We will see.