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Jane and i were down the allotment today and are still new to the allotments, and as Jane is still recovering she was sat at the back in charge of tea making and handed a cup of tea to our our neighbour who we have only met once and is about 400 give or take a few years and a really nice chap leant across and gave jane some runner beans and a cabbage,and another neighbour gave us some leeks to plant for winter, i just think a simple gesture of sharing with each other is so nice, to people that you don't really know but share a good afternoon or a hello in passing, and a small act of kindness makes you feel that the world is'nt as bad sometimes.

Russ

I totally agree. It's like another world at the allotment with people being kind and generous. I've had my allotment since last October, so this is like an experimental year for me. I've been pretty successful so far, but will be able to at least double my harvest with more experience. During the 10 months I've had the plot, though, the site manager (who has been going there for well over 70 years!) has given me so many things to eat and plants to grow. It's so generous of him and I wish I could do something nice for him in return but he seems to have it all and as a newcomer, and with a family, I seem to have so little (absolutely nothing that he doesn't have already). I said to him the other day that I wish I could do something for him. His answer was, "You can. A kind word now and then." It seems so inadequate.

It is amasing how far kind words can go,there seems to be a vast lack of them these days,
when Jane and i picked the gooseberrys i turned a few into some wine so when it has matured enough i am taking some down the allotment for a thank you drink.

Russ

We don`t very often meet our allotment neighbours - we`re there in the daytime and they seem to garden evenings and weekends - but when some lowlife trashed our shed and nicked our stuff we found replacement tools, even a petrol mower for the orchard area, quietly put over the fence for us. Had to swallow hard and pretend I had something in my eye!

A new chap on our lotties seriously annoyed the lady on the next plot as he decided to burn off the whole of his (admittedly considerable) bramble/bindweed infestation by pouring petrol everywhere and bringing in old skirting boards and the like - complete with donkey's years worth of paint layers - to help the blaze along and causing massive amounts of stinking, choking smoke in the process. He did this for weeks on end and refused to curb his activities even when nearby allotments were being worked. As a result he has alienated one of the kindest, funniest, most knowledgeable people on the site and has effectively cut himself off from a supply of advice, seedlings, conversation, surplus veg and cups of tea (usually with a chocolate biccy thrown in). Consideration at the outset would have made his life so much more pleasant and he would have got far more from his plot than just hard work and veggies. Usually though, the community feeling on an allotments is wonderful and people from all walks of life mix, chat, help each other and gossip about their crops - or lack of them. It's a great atmosphere.

Bloke next to me seems to be using his plot as a scrapyard/breaking yard. Has delivered and demolished a caravan on the plot, and seems to have burnt most of it, including plastic judging by the smell hanging aroung today.

OMG!
Have you got a committee or something who could sort him out?

They are run by the local council who don't seem to bother with us much. If it carries on I suppose I will have to say something. Anyway, if past history is anything to go by he probably won't be there long. He is about the fourth person of a group of friends to use the plot in less than a year. The rent will be due soon so maybe that will prompt a change.

our local allotments flooded this weekend,it happened last year too.

Oh you poor thing! I know our allotments flooded last year, but that was a few months before I took mine on, so I've never actually been effected by them. I have been worrying about them though, as I watch the huge lakes form in the wooded areas around them. Thankfully, today we've had a break from the rain and a little bit of sunshine with a gentle breeze. I'm hoping that's enough to allow the ground to cope with the rain that's forecast for the next few days.

Have you been able to take stock since the recent floods? Have you lost anything? Or do you think they might survive? I hope you managed to harvest your potatoes before it happened.

I know it's no consolation, but I'm sure you're not alone. I really do sympathize with anyone who loses out to this horrendous so-called-summer we're having.

Hi Rosendula I too had not started growing yet as I only just agreed to cultivate a part of my neighbours second allotment as part of a learning to grow veg experiment. Our friends have managed to harvest a lot of things to freeze but had already been hit by blight and will lose the rest of the runner beans .I expect we will have to round up some bits and pieces of kit that have floated about the site.Last summers bad floods wiped the lot out as well but floods are a known problem on what is otherwise a very lovely site. my plans next year are early spuds and some broad beans also anything I cannot find space for at home.I will make sure I have runner beans at home as well as on the plot.I hope your allotments escape the floods, all the best from Tiggy

Merry wrote:We don`t very often meet our allotment neighbours - we`re there in the daytime and they seem to garden evenings and weekends - but when some lowlife trashed our shed and nicked our stuff we found replacement tools, even a petrol mower for the orchard area, quietly put over the fence for us. Had to swallow hard and pretend I had something in my eye!

What a wonderful story. Just goes to show that gardeners are the kindest, most thoughtful people on the planet, IMHO.