New start at allotment

[Pumkinpie]

It's a while since I have been on here as I have not had a good growing year for various reasons.
I was thinking about giving up the plot as I got disalusioned by having no neighbours and extremely overgrown plots on both sides. Well I am going to give it one more go as there has been a bit more stirring amongst the allotment committee so hopefully things will run a bit better and the unused plots will be let.
My aim is a no dig plot and been able to pick some thing most weeks of the year.
Got some manure coming soon so off to do some more clearing shortly.
Here's to another year and keeping the plot

[Flo]

It can be disheartening when things don't run as well as they might on the plot. But if you have a good clear over the winter, get neighbours who garden and manage to get stuff planted in the spring then next year could be a whole nice experience. Good luck.

[Pumkinpie]

It looks ok , fairly tidy and clear. Just picked my last crop of late sown peas for tea tonight which makes everything worth while. Planing is the name of the game over the winter.

[doofaloofa]

Can you use the abandoned plots as a source of bio matter for the compost heap?

Two birds with one stone

[diggernotdreamer]

I can't believe you have empty plots, there are people on 5 year waiting lists at my old allotment site

[ina]

... and there aren't any allotments here at all...

[benner]

I was amazed that we got one so quick after going on the list in the spring. There were 8 plots on our site up for grabs this year. It looks like a lot of people give up after the first year. Great for us as we inherited a plot with a load of concrete blocks on it, which I've used to terrace the top end. The rest was covered with weed suppressing material so it's kept the majority of unwanted grasses and perennial weeds at bay. Weve only had it a month and even with the wet weather, managed to prep 3 beds and paths. Still loads to do but we got rhubarb in at the weekend and time permitting, will get broad beans, onions and garlic in end of the week.

[Weedo]

Hi

Forgive my antipodean ignorance but would someone like to briefly explain this "allotment" system? I am presuming it is small plots of public land leased to individuals but how is it allotted and administered? Nothing like this exists in Australia although from my work in land titles previously "common lands" were normally set aside in each village and town ship - unfortunately they seem to have all been sold off many years ago.

[Flo]

Here's a link to a very short answer to your question weedo - http://www.nsalg.org.uk/allotment-info/ ... llotments/

You can go on for ever with the history of the allotment, what it is, how you get one, whether there are enough here - people do academic studies on the matter!!!

[Weedo]

Thanks Flo very useful info - I will look up the legislation later and have a browse. They are really quite small plots at around 16 per acre

[Green Aura]

These days the land might be either local authority of privately owned, is rented to the individual members and are usually managed by a committee of the allotment users. The price of rental can from tiny to ridiculous and what they offer, over and above the plot of land can be very variable (even the size which used to be governed by law - now ).

Some have excellent facilities - shared tools, seeds, compost etc. Some provide toilet facilities and a communal hut and have a real sense of camaraderie (and competitiveness at the annual fete). Others literally offer a piece of land without even guaranteed access to water. Most, of course are somewhere in between.

They were particularly pushed/needed during the war. In fact a friend of mine bought a house only to find that the bottom third of the garden was allotment, donated to each house on the street by the council during the war. The first they heard of it was when someone in the planning dept decided to reclaim all this land - not for any specific purpose - 60 years later. Needless to say, after a short, well-publicised campaign the Council quietly dropped it. The bit I found most interesting was that even though no one knew that this strip of land was originally allotments many of the houses were still using it for veg growing and keeping chickens. (Although I suppose that in the early 21stC all of this was becoming trendy, rather than a necessity - especially in quiet suburbs).

[Weedo]

Thank you Green Aura

I did some research for here in NSW and the legislation is still in place for something like this to happen on town "commmons" for persons registered by the management committee as "commoners". dividing up into allotments is a greayish area though- unfortunately very few commons now exist and what do are managed by local councils.

I have been kicking around the idea of renting out allotments (or similar) on my own place; I have area and water but the anal requirements of local government here (re buildings, amenities etc.) would be a barrier, particularly as my land is designated as protected for agricultural purposes. Cooperative Agriculture?

[Green Aura]

There's a ton of legislation here as well weedo. The way a lot of people are getting round it is by simply calling it something else. Community shared agriculture or similar.
One example I've seen is very simple - an enclosed field with raised beds (split log construction) and a couple of big polytunnels, with similar. Anyone in the village can sign up to a raised bed in either one or both. I'm not sure if money changes hands but there is lots of swapping of produce and shared tools etc. Everyone is responsible for keeping it tidy, mowing paths etc and it seems to work very well with minimal rules.
I'm sure it could be scaled up/down to meet need and would need minimal outlay really, especially if you're handy at building polytunnels and animal-proof fencing.

[Flo]

You are describing what we have as a community allotment in town up hill Maggie. You usually have to pay a membership subscription and some form of cash to keep the essentials in place.

[Weedo]

I think it will need some further investigation and a closer look at what the authorities interpret as agriculture. home garden etc. I have riparian rights which allow me virtually unlimited free water (as long as the river is flowing) for "stock & domestic" use, meaning for watering animals and at the residence and associated gardens. I have infrastructure in place to distrubute it - I pump from the river to a large tank on a hill a couple of kilometres away and then gravity feed down. However, if an allotment system winds up being considered "commercial" then I will have to pay for water and infrastructure meaning I would need to recover costs. The other issue would be that the land would be subject to flooding, it could have a couple of metres of flowing over it every 5 -10 years, so the authorities will restrict what can by put there.