Part of the motivation, apart from hoping I don’t disprove the proverb ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’, is to make it easier to get to my 5-a-day. Not sure I managed it today, given that we decided to have an impromptu gathering to eat up the various packs of frozen party food we didn’t eat on Christmas Day, but a glass of fruit juice + an apple each day will get me at least 40% of the way.

Screenshot of Growveg.com's planning screen

GrowVeg.com – The Smart Way To Plan Your Garden*

I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions, but there’s no getting away from the psychological impact of the change from one year to the next.

2008 was, for various reasons, something of a ‘lost’ year as far as the allotment goes, and I’m determined to use 2009 well and get the allotment into a good state.  There’s a lot of work to be done, but at least if I cut stuff back now, it’s not going to spring back even more vigorously before I get to it again.  (One my mistakes last year was trying to tame the allotment during the summer.)

Anyway, one way of being productive about the allotment when I’m not even there, is to make sure my planning is all in order.  To that end, I’m signing up for Growveg.com*.

As the website neatly puts it: “GrowVeg.com is an innovative garden planning tool which helps you grow fruit and vegetables to the best of their ability, whatever the size or shape of your garden or plot.”  There’s also useful articles on the site to read through, so you’re not just left with a pretty online version of graph paper.

I’ve signed up for the free 30-day trial, and I’ll report back regularly as to how I’m finding it.  I’m pretty sure I’ll end up paying for the full account (only £15 per year, or £25 for two years), but it’d be stupid not to take advantage of the free trial first.  If you’re feeling generous you can always buy someone else a Growveg.com gift certificate*.

*These links are affiliate links – if you click them and end up paying for a Growveg.com account, I’ll get a little bit of money for referring you.  It won’t cost you any more to use this link compared to going to Growveg.com directly.  I promise I’m linking to Growveg.com only because it’s interesting.