Can Someone Explain How Allotments Work?

[FarmerPhoebe]

From reading your posts, I've picked up that allotments are like our community gardens. I'm curious to know how they are set up and operated. They are run by districts? municipalities?

How big are they? (total) and how big is a patch? (individual)
Do they cost very much?
Is anything provided above and beyond the space? (water hookup, hoses, woodchips, tools)
Do they all have the same sorts of rules from place to place?
Is everybody eligible to apply or is there specific criteria?

The pictures I've seen are beautiful. some of the gardens look HUGE! And there seems to be a community feel about them. Like the post where somebody broke into the tool shed and stole the tools and other gardeners anonymously donated replacements. That was such a cool story.

[sleepyowl]

The goverment have to provide allotments if enough people request them.
They have water hookups, but the rest varies, my dad's allotment provides manure.
Each plot is 400-200 metres squared

[Karen_D]

There's a good article giving a general overview here
http://www.allotment.org.uk/articles/Al ... istory.php

Cost can vary. I pay a measly £13.50 per year for two plots which is cheap. In London and other high-demand areas it can be £100 a year. Average is probably about £30 per year. Average size is 300 Square Yards but plots can be subdivided into half or even quarter plots if demand is high or you don't want a full plot. Actual sites can be small, ours consists of fourteen plots in total but others can be well over a hundred plots.

Usually there is a water hookup (but not always) and anything else is pretty much up to the management. We don't have toilets or a shop (although the local gardening guild runs a small outlet on one of the local sites) but we are getting toilets in the near future courtesy of the local council. Thankfully, they're showing a bit of sense and we're getting composting toilets.

Rules vary but generally you are not allowed to use the allotment for commercial purposes (such as running a plant nursery).

Some allotments are wonderful friendly places but some are not so good - it really just depends on the people who rent them.

Wassail

Karen

[Bluemoon]

Plots on our site are about 350 square metres and there are between 60 and 70 individual plots, though I've heard of sites that are four times that size and some with as few as four plots. This last year we paid £42 per plot, but around half of that was a fee for the water. (At shop prices I've had around £42 worth of raspberries from mine this year so I like to think that everything else was free) I think in the past local authorities have stuck allotments wherever there is a free piece of land and, as such, they often slope horribly or are wedged between railway tracks and canal or something. In other words in places where it is impossible to build or where people would refuse to live. This has sort of gone by the wayside now and developers can cram "A superb development of luxury apartments" in just about any nook and cranny you'd care to mention, which is why a lot of sites are finding themselves under threat.
Allotments are a fantastic resource and the sense of community is wonderful. In the past I believe they were for 'the labouring poor', but these days anyone can take a plot and the mixture of people from all walks of life, but with a simple love of food gardening is really something.

[LBR]

Most interesting. Thanks for all the info!

[oldfella]

Well now, I found that I did the work, and the allotment was just there, and things grew 'sometimes'.

[Flo]

Funny oldfella I was just going to say that. Never seen my allotment do anything - it's seen me do an awful lot though.