Grow Your Own Magazine

After wanting an allotment for some time and there being a 2 and a half year waiting list for my local ones. I decided to go to the Sheffield City Council as i live on the border of Chesterfield and Sheffield and to my amazement when i rang up they said there was some avaliable plots at the nearest allotments to me and they would sent out the info to me.

i waited a few days and the info arrived and to my amazement again wheni opened the information there was 57 PLOTS AVAILABLE

And we could actaully go and see them to this weekend so we thought what with so many plots avaiable so we decided to have 2 that were together in a corner and has we have got chickens and ducks and you could keep livestock on the allotments we were planning all our idea what we were going to do with the allotments.

But it was a totally different story when we actually got there and we saw for ourselves why they were so many plots available.

it was more like a dump than an allotment site there were old fridges on there tyres and rats running all over the place in broad day light!!!

We just stood and look at each other and didn't say a word because i think we both didn't know what to say to each other.

We then saw a woman on one of the gardens that you could actually do something with and she said that she had got it a month ago and we was trying to clear her own plot but that was taking some time to do.

With every plot you could have a water supply for a little extra cost each year but as we were walking around none of them had taps and the woman said that the scrap men were always on there taking them and anything they could find and also they had put a new gate on there last week and it was only on for 2 days before the scrap men came for it!!!

As we looked around every plot had brambles that were 5 foot tall....

We managed to go and look at the plot that we wanted but it would have took years to clear it as the council will not do it....

i just can't believe they have let this site go to the state its in at the moment and what with everyone wanting allotment gardens. So i have now made it my mission to get it all sorted and cleared they have regular meeting throughtout the city so i WILL be attending to see what they are going to do about these ALLOTMENTS in the future:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

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Blimey!! On the brighter side, looks like you have all the camping gear you need to let you make the most of the daylight hours at this time of year!! The soil should be nice and fertile under all that bramble growth too.

Best of luck to you

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

more pictures

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Cripes, what a mess! Are you going to rise to the challenge?

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Mark

Vegetable Kingdom blog

more pictures for you to look at

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Gosh I wish my plot had been that open and workable when I started. I have had to take out 25 square metres of blackthorn, terrace a 1 in 5 slope and put water 100m (60 cm deep) and I still have a lot of trees to remove.
I suppose the waiting lists will always be long for easy plots. Surely it is the council's job to have plots available - not work them too....
How keen are you???? (you could always wait 2 years)

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Tx

Crikey having that much land going to waste is almost criminal. Looks like you got your work cut out but it will be terrific when its done

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Taking it one day at a time and still smiling...

I guess it depends on whether you are a glass half empty or a glass half full sort of person...

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Andrea :wavehello

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...logs/zazen999/

moon trials completed:
tomatoes
[46% increase in crop per seed sown and 10% increase in crop per plant]

currently underway:
calabrese
garlic

http://linearlegume.blogspot.com/

I would look on it as an open book and a challenge and just get stuck into it!

If you keep chooks they will soon clear the land for you anyway!

I'm sure there will be plot holders on the site who have tidy plots as well as the derelict ones? If you've got 57 to choose from........just weigh up the pro's and cons and pick the best of the bunch!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

on the site there is 81 plots and there are 57 available... there is some that are doing something with their plots but half of that actually got burned down at the beginning of the year because the secruity is so open there.

So out of the plots we only saw about 6 plots that were actually being gardened but all of the others had been burned!!!!!

What a mess! If you take it (you can always remain on the other list for a nicer plot when it comes up in two years).. I'd suggest spraying round-up everywhere, then once things die back put down layers and layers of cardboard for over the winter. The thing I think you really need to consider is site security.. if people are dumping junk, there is likely to be damage to your plot from time to time.. and possibly stolen veg as well.

Agree with all - what a mess - but....

Is the corrugated sheeting in one of the photo's asbestos - looks like it - if you mention
that to the council, are they not obliged to investigate / clear it?

NKP

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NKP1962
From Plot to Plate

yes it is ASBESTOS and the whole site is covered in it and my OH says that you have to have masked and white overalls to clear it all...

If it is, surely the council have a duty of care to remove & decontaminate the whole site? Has anyone asked the question?

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NKP1962
From Plot to Plate

Oh cripes, it makes our allotments look like Buckingham Palace! Can I ask how much they are paying you to take a plot..................????

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

No, they don't NPK, not if ours is anything to go by. They just tell you to wrap it in a double thickness of plastic and take it to the nearest appropriate Household Waste Site

Lavender Lou, if it was just the mess and undergrowth to clear, I'd suggest you roll your sleeves up and get stuck in. However with the obvious security problems, I think you're right to say you need to start a campaign to get the council involved. It would be heartrending to put in all that effort and find that the plots had been vandalised/robbed/burnt down!
I would imagine that the local Primary Care Trust would be interested in the first of your pictures - I'm pretty sure that some of that stuff is a specialist mattress to prevent pressure sores, which costs a lot of money!

Get the local papers involved, and write to GYO mag and any other gardening magazines you can. I know that Sheffield has a Community Radio Station (sheffieldlive i think) and also a BBC radio station who may help or at least report the story. Don't forget your local MPs too. Also try getting in touch with NSALG for advice on how to regenerate derelict allotments.

I wish you good luck for your campaign.

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Sarah

http://www.hypermobility.org


“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

I'm a Fire fighter and deal with asbestos quite alot and yes it is the councils duty to remove. Don't go near it as it's broken, when it's moved microscopic glass like particles become airborn and when you breath these in they stick to your lungs and can never be removed(leading to asbestosis-a killer!)

Recently took on a plot not worked for 10 years. Get hold of a good petrol strimmer with wide handles and shoulder strap(your back'll thank you). I got 1 from argos £70 Spear and Jackson. Then have a bonfire and burn all the weeds and wood you'll find(taking care stay with it till it dies down to a smolder and not too near anything that will catch fire through radiated heat). I used a rotovator to remove the rest and level the land. Then covered with membrane(£30 delivered off ebay for 100m x 1.5m) as the rotovator chops up the weeds and they'll come back.

It's hard work but you wouldn't believe the satisfaction when it starts to take shape.

Oh and the photo after i burned it all off!

The council should be ashamed of themselves 'allowing' that to happen.
I know they have 'no' spare money allocated for allotments, but it is their duty to provide them and I'd consider that to mean in a usable state.

Why not contact the papers and see if they can feature the site and try to encourage peeps to take on a few of the plots. You're clearly not the only one who didn't know there were so many available.
Perhaps a positive approach is the best one...I'd be wary of irritating the council too much though....they could always sell the land to raise more cash ( mind you there's less building work going on at the moment)- they could argue there was no call for the plots!

Looks like you're doing a fantastic job...credit to you!!

Good for you rising to the challenge Lavender Lou but as others have said it could be worth involving local press and the gardening mags. What about people like Jamie Oliver etc who are, quite rightly, encouraging the Grow Your Own culture? Also there may be some community groups that maybe interested in a plot and with their input finance maybe available for the security etc. Good luck with it all and the satisfaction when you eat those first veggies will be amazing. Keep us all posted

Hi all the allotments are £19 a year and £42 a year with a water supply that is if you can keep a tap!

i have just rang the Allotments Officier for Sheffield City Council and he said that they are currently in talks in having the land cleared and getting the secruity needed for the plots and the site.
He didn't know about all that had been dumped there so i have sent him photos to show him whats there.

But he kept saying to me that people are taking on the allotments yeah there are 6 plots that people are gardening and so that leaves 75 available so he said to ring him up in a few months to see how the progress on the site is coming along.

So i then said to him i will be going up weekly myself to see the progress for myself.

So i'm giving them 2 weeks to have the stuff removed on the plots and if its not then i'm going to the papers and the local radio and doing everything i can to get it back to a Allotment site everyone will want to use and be proud off..