Got my Allotment, need some advice

[Jared]

After a fair while on the waiting list, the council sent me a lovely letter which I received on Saturday telling me there are plots ready, and in the site just round the corner from my house, marvellous.
I have to go get shown round the site on saturday and pick a plot, it would seem there are a few prepared and I get second pick. What should I be looking for in a site so I know which one to select?

[Gert]

I would check which plots are likely to get the most sunlight, not shaded out by anything and if it's a hilly layout as close to south facing as you can get. Apart from that, just check that you have a decent amount of soil and it's not solid rock two inches below the surface.

Oh, and I would go for something as close to the water supply as you can get , but that's only because I'm lazy

[Rosendula]

Think also about your personality. There are some people who love the social life at the allotments, and having a plot nearer the gate would mean you have people passing by as they arrive and leave the plots - many of whom will stop to chat. On the other hand, if you are like me and don't get as much time as you want to go there, it might be better to pick a plot at the opposite end to the gates so that you get less interuptions from the friendly folk. On the other hand, as a newbie, it might be that you would benefit from the advice of the other allotmenteers.

Another thing to consider might be the level of the land. Our site is on a very slight slope and last winter the plots at one end flooded while the plots at the other end were fine.

How will you be getting to the allotment? If you are walking or cycling it's not an issue, but if you must go in car you need to consider where you can park it. Some folk sacrifice the end of their plot to their car, but if there's a huge water trough plumbed in at the end of your plot, you won't be able to get a car on it.

If any of the plots have sheds, go for one of those. I consider a shed to be an essential, but wouldn't have been able to afford to buy one when I first started out, and although you can sometimes get them for free from places like Freecycle, I wouldn't have had the means to transport one (or the time).

[MuddyWitch]

Close to the tap is good...the one with the tap at the end is bad..someone is BOUND to leave it on & flood you out at some point.

MW

[Jared]

Well here it is. Just got to wait for the key now.

[Rosendula]

OOOOOH! bet you can't wait to get started.

[Millymollymandy]

Congrats to you!

Now can someone explain this to me - there are waiting lists for allotments yet practically everyone who finally gets an allotment gets one which has been lying unused for years..... how does that work then?

[Jared]

I can't wait, I'm already mentally mapping out where everything will go. Still don't know why the council couldn't have offered it to me last year though.

[Rosendula]

Congrats to you!

Now can someone explain this to me - there are waiting lists for allotments yet practically everyone who finally gets an allotment gets one which has been lying unused for years..... how does that work then?

I can only speak about the situation at our site, MMM. There are a lot of plots that are uncultivated, but are still tenanted with tenants still paying rent on them. Some of those tenants haven't visited the allotments for years but for some reason are still hanging on to the plot - perhaps in case they find the time to take it up again, or in case a family member or friend wants to use it without the hassle of joining a waiting list. I don't know, just guessing.

Our council is working at this situation and sending letters to the said tenants saying something along the lines of 'use it or lose it'. Some have voluntarily given them up, others have had their tenancy agreement terminated by the council. And that's why the plots are uncultivated when they are finally handed over to someone who's been waiting an age for one.

There's a bloke at our site who has 3 plots, on 3 sides of me (poor me, he's a right miserable so-and-so, nasty, racist, rude... grrr). He does nothing more than dig a small patch on 2 of his plots each year, and grows a few spuds, plus tomatoes in his greenhouse. But he's not willing to give any up. He's received several letters, but always seems to give a good excuse (ill-health usually keeps them off his back for a while), and promises to get on top of it all. On the one hand it's frustrating knowing that someone else would love to have some of the space he isn't using, and that they might not let all the weeds go to seed and spread all over neighbouring plots (mine!). On the other hand, if it wasn't for people like him having several plots, the site would have been sold to developers a long time ago and so wouldn't exist.

Another tactic our council has employed is the introduction of a water charge or £5 per plot per year, with no concessions. They've done this instead of increasing the rent which does have concessions for people who are not working. So the bloke I just told you about is going to have to pay an extra £15 a year, which doesn't seem a lot but might just be enough to persuade him to give one up.

[Millymollymandy]

Thanks Rosendula, that goes a long way to explaining it then. It does seem very unfair when there are people waiting desperately for a plot, especially people like your neighbour with 3 of them, hardly used!

[gunners71uk]

impartial assertive fair stewards are a rariety on allotments but our steward is a sweetie
i think people should have only half a plot for two people and a whole plot for a family we have a half plot 10 rod about 80ft by 20ftish and you plan better .

[Gert]

Round our way, several farmers have switched on to the idea that they can make more money from the odd acre of land by dividing it up into allotments for rent , than they can from having animals grazing it.

Which seems to be a bit of a win win situation to me.

Hopefully the trend will catch on.

[inishindie]

Hi Jared.

Great looking piece of ground... it might be fair to say there hasn't been many chemicals on that land for a while.....

I lived in Nottingham for a few years near the Mapperley allotments. It's a fantastic place and people have actually started to live there nearly full time. It is a great community. We are just getting going with allotments here in Ireland and have got 2 new websites to help us......

http://www.irishallotments.net/

http://www.allotments.ie/

There are loads of sites but it's good to have them localish to you...

Cheers and good luck

Ian

[Jared]

Thanks for the advice, I'm still waiting on a key to the allotment site, and the weather has been a bit dire.
With a bit of luck I'll have the key and some nice weather by the weekend and can get my first bed ripped out. I have pumpkins and sweetcorn on my kitchen windowsill that are looking forward to being planted out.
When progress is made I'll be updating www.photobucket.com/JaredsAllotment

In the meantime I'll just have to busy myself with my homebrew,

[Flo]

Don't plant pumpkins and sweetcorn out till after the danger of frosts is over or you will lose them - mid to end May is the time to put them out.