Allotment Gate Sale

24 May 2025 (Saturday)

It would’ve been lovely to have stayed another day or two with Vivi in Swanage, though with today being our allotment Gate Sale, raising funds for our allotment association, it was important to get back yesterday.

I set the alarm for 7am, as we normally set up from 9am, opening our gate at 11am and usually going through to 3pm. Over the previous years I've been one of the main organisers of this day, though with me no longer being on the committee it was left to others to sort. Unfortunately, the lovely new plotter and excellent committee member doing the messaging had some of the timings wrong, with the setup messaged to be starting at 10 rather than 9 - not her fault, she should have been told about the timings of previous years.

Fortunately, several of us were down at the earlier right time to set up, though needs must and I had to put a post on our WhatsApp group to ask for muscle to get trestle tables out, plants carried across to them, sorted in to vegetables and fruits one side and house plants and flowers the other side of our hard standing, pricing everything up, making sure it all had labels, plus many other little jobs that you just don't think of as they're just part of the routine. There was no way all of this would’ve been done in the hour that had been allotted, though with people turning up earlier we got everything sorted and done ready for the gates to open at 11.

It had been decided at the last committee meeting that we’d try and take card payments as well as cash at this Gate Sale - not something we’d done before as we’d only ever accepted cash, and I do accept we need to move with the times. The issue is that various networks’ mobile signal can be pretty poor at some areas of the site, though not usually the one on my own phone. Also, unfortunately, despite being the Treasurer I hadn't been told that the committee had agreed to trial card payments, and it came as a bit of a surprise when another committee member (the same fabulous and lovely one) mentioned it to me.

Now the thing is, I've set up many card payment systems in my time, and know how to do it from scratch and which provider takes the least percentage, is easiest to work with when things don’t go right etc, etc…  so when I was told it was happening and hadn't been included in the decision making I was somewhat surprised - maybe I’m just too precious!

Anyway, earlier this week I’d got the chosen payment system working on my phone; downloading the app and logging in, it all seemed to be working - a case of ‘so far, so good’!  It had also been decided, sensibly, that another person would also have the app on their phone to take payments, and as I’d been busy over the past week and away for the past three days we’d decided to do it this morning….

However, with all the kerfuffle and impromptu organising of much on Saturday morning, when it came to setting up the app on the other person's phone I’d completely forgotten the password and it just wouldn’t come back to me. Also, on the other plotter’s phone’s network the signal seemed to be particularly poor, and mine also a tad more intermittent than usual.

By the time we were ready to open the gates, I still couldn't remember the password and I didn't want to log out of the app on my phone in case I couldn't log back in. At this point I was getting pretty stressed about the whole day, never ever wanting to be any part of the Gate Sale again, and just wanting to hide in my shed and let the day go by… anxiety really taking hold.  

Trying to be helpful, several plotters were suggesting what the password might be, “What about the code of the old padlock?”, “What about changing the password?”... “What about logging out and logging back in?”... “What about….”.

In my mind, for years we've done well enough with cash, and hopefully the app would work on my phone to take payments so it wasn't too major an issue if we didn't have another phone able to take payments.

My anxiety rose… and rose… and it got to a point with everyone making suggestions and going on about card payments that I lost it, and I said, “What about… if anyone says anything about card payments again I just walk away and don’t come back?”

It’s fair to say this somewhat surprised and silenced all.  I rarely lose it, though I did this time… 

However, the gates opened… and we got on with selling the hundreds of plants on offer.

​In the end, we took around £700, which with a few extra promised pennies to come in will make this year’s Gate Sale record breaking, being the best plant sale that we’ll ever have had.  AND, just under 10% of this was card sales on my phone - certainly not to be sniffed at, though there was only one person who’d not had cash with them and therefore wouldn't have bought if we didn't have the system up and running.

Of course I now remember what the password is, and I totally agree that having the option to take card payments is worth it. Though at that particular time on this particular day it was just too much for me to take on board and sort out.  Being the person I am, I apologised to those plotters that matter to me… it’s the right thing to do.

Most plot tenants are incredibly supportive of the plant sales that we've had, with many sowing seeds and growing on plants to raise money for our association funds.  This year was no exception, and the event on the whole went extremely smoothly, and despite grey skies people trickled through steadily and readily wanting to buy plants for the gardens, growing spaces and allotments.

When it came to packing up at the end of day, there were plenty of bodies and hands to do this, and we put some plants aside that will over-winter fine for next year's sale.  They're mainly on my plot at the moment, though I’ll ask some others when time allows to take a few off my hands to look after for next year’s Gate Sale.

Coming home, Richard and I had a chat and decided to do Sunday Chat tomorrow morning, rather than today. So that allowed me to get back to the allotment after lunch and do a final segment of A Week at the Plot, which I’ll edit in the morning.

Richard had so far spent his day going over the footage that he’d taken in Swanage and sorting out photos, developing them, creating socials and uploading them to our Ko-fi shop, where you can buy a little memento of our first trip to Swanage and Vivi’s Cottage by the Sea.


Weather:  Raining to start the day, then dry but grey skies throughout.  Around 17°.

Breakfast:  Bran Sticks, yogurt, sultanas and banana
Snack:  Packet of Cheddars, and cups of coffee
Lunch:   Microwave Frozen Mixed Veg omelette, pitta and cucumber 
Supper:  Smoked Tofu & Red Kidney Beans Burgers, Lidl French Fries, lettuce, cucumber and radish