Allotment Holders

[Cloud]

Once again I apologise I didn't mean to offend anyone.

[Mrs Dobby]

No need to apologise Cloud, no one here is offended, or at least none I can see from whats been posted!

Many of us with multi plots have worked hard to get them up to scratch, our first plot had been turned down by loads of folk before we took it, 8' deep in weeds, bramble, bindweed, mares tail and thistles, and we're still battling the bindweed and mares tail, but wouldnt have it any other way!

Once we'd cleared our first plot (6 months of double digging thru the winter) we were offered a further half plot, as it hadnt been cultivated for a year and the site rep was keen to try and get it let, so we them cleared that one and had it all last year, enjoying the extra growing space it gave us! At the end of last year we spoke to the site rep and told her that if either of the plots next to our first one came vacant, then we'd love to take one and then we'd give up the half plot. The new plot we've now got next to our original wasnt worked at all last year, and was pretty overgrown, so we've had to work hard to get it cleared and into cultivation, so hard that we fell behind with planting and weeding on ur original plot and are now still playing catchup, but overall we've now only 3 mid sized beds left to finish digging and planting, and then both plots will be up to scratch and fully cultivated! Hence the reason that today on our day off we were on the plot for 10am, and have only just come home cos it got too dark to carry on!

As has been said, I'm not offended, nor do I see anyone else being so, so dont worry about speaking your mind Cloud, and I wish you a short wait til you get your own plot!

[Snadger]

Once again I apologise I didn't mean to offend anyone.

You haven't offended anyone cloud. This is a good thread you've started and you are asking a perfectly reasonable question.

[Pootle]

You haven't offended anyone cloud. This is a good thread you've started and you are asking a perfectly reasonable question.

Hear hear! Its really interesting to hear that in some places there is no waiting list at all and yet in others you almost need to put your name down at birth!

I've just heard that our neighbours are planning to give up their plot at the end of the season - so maybe if I speak nicely to the council we might be able to have their half as well...

[Pumpkin Becki]

You haven't offended anyone cloud. This is a good thread you've started and you are asking a perfectly reasonable question.

Absolutely! This is clearly a very thought provoking thread.

The depth of feeling displayed here goes to show that there are people willing and able to maintain multiple plots. It's a shame that those people who take up allotments after jumping on the band waggon, and abandon them just as swiftly, are unlikely to be on the Vine, let alone reading this thread!

I have a quarter plot on a private allotment. My OH and I have turned it from sheep meadow into a lovely plot with raised beds (inspite of my OH having appendicitis and me breaking my foot last July!). We approached the landowner about taking on one of the less well tended plots (and thats putting it mildly). He contacted the owner, she chopped down some weeds (enough to keep her safe), and then he went and built two new plots for new people, one of which has already gone to rack and ruin only three months down the line!

I understand your frustration, especially as the seven council allotment sites near me are located close to the town, none near the village we are moving to. However, I contacted our town council, and they gave me the details of our landlord and his private site. Try your council, they might keep a similar list of private sites.

Good luck!

[di]

just echoing previous posts re being offended,doesnt seem you've offended anyone including me1understand you must find it really frustrating,good luck again & hope your wait is over soon.

[Cloud]

Thanks everyone feel better about it now

[piskieinboots]

Once again I apologise I didn't mean to offend anyone.

You haven't offended me - as said above you have started a good thread and I totally agree with others in that there needs to be more control over the plots not worked.

There are approx 5 or 6 neglected plots on my site, really annoying when people like you are out there and waiting. I hope you get one real soon hun.

[Gwyndy]

You make a very good point Cloud but, as others have pointed out, many people who have more than one plot took them on at a time when councils couldn't give them away. I do have a big issue with anyone who takes on a plot and doesn't maintain it or cultivate properly. I have a half plot. To one side I have a woman who, after 3 years, still hasn't dug over all of her half plot. She uses about half of the area that she has, the rest is weed which, of course, seeds and spreads to everyone else's plots. To the other side of me I have a guy who has two full plots. He is still working so cannot devote the time necessary to properly maintain this amount of land. Result - more weeds!! Behind me I have a builder's yard!! This is a full plot tenanted by an ex-builder who uses the area as cheap storage for all his junk. Whenever he gets a threatening letter from the council he does the absolute minimum amount of work to make it look as though the land is being used.

This is all grossly unfair to people like you who are desperate to get their own patch of land. Our Council has four sites and currently has a waiting list of around 60 - 25 for the site that I am on!! Their solution is to offer tiny quarter plots. (I actually think that they are much smaller than quarter plots. You would need 3 or 4 of these mini plots to equal half of the plot that I have!!)

The local authority has the power to deal with these people. The tenancy agreement is quite clear about use of the land, cultivation, keeping it weed free, etc., but they always seem to back off from evicting the long time tenants.

Anyway Cloud, hang in there. I hope you get an allotment soon. You'll love it when you do!!

[KERNOW CHICK]

At my allotment site there are people who only have a plot so they can park their cars and go to the bowls club! I had to strim the plot next to mine at the weekend as it was so over grown I couldn't use the path.

[Two_Sheds]

When I couldn't get a plot, I used to hate people who had more than one!
Now, I have two myself, although I intend to give up one of them next year. The plot next to me ~ and I've had a total of 4 plots over 10 years ~ has ALWAYS been let to somebody who hasn't a scooby! They dig a bit, leave it a month, dig a bit more, and it remains a weed-infested mess year after year after year.

I'm now of the opinion that I would rather take on a derelict plot next to me than allow it to go to yet another no-hoper, who thinks they can run an allotment on twenty minutes a week.

* That's just my personal opinion, and doesn't reflect the opinions of anyone else on this site. *

[Cloud]

I have just contacted a local allotment association and have told me to try again in late October when the rents are due.Is this commonplace or am I just being fobbed off?

[Two_Sheds]

It is quite usual for plots to be handed over at the end of the allotment year, ie October.

keep your ear to the ground though, as plots do become available at any time.

[zazen999]

Hi
Our year starts in April; so once the digging is done it's pushing it to get a decent growing year - they put the rents up this year from £8 to £15 and this paid for our 3 plots to be cleared and rotavated; but if they hadn't been we would definitely have lost ALOT of this summer's crops. So, we put in spuds and onions as are weeding in between them ALOT - but I wanted to get crops on the move. So, having an October start is no bad thing as you have the winter to clear it.

It is a good idea to find out where you actually are on the list; so you don't find you are too far down; and knowing that say 10 are not being properly maintained but that you are number 3 on the list will keep you motivated.

Also, and this may be a village thing - find out when the village/town meetings are - you can usually attend for some portion so bring the subject up that they need to make sure that all plots are being tended to and not wasted. There is a thread on here at the mo started by Snadger which gives a good example of what demands the council need to put onto tenants who aren't maintaining things properly.

[Gwyndy]

Cloud - a few suggestions -

1. I would find out what the policy is on shifting people who don't maintain their plots. If this is an on-going thing during the year you could get lucky and be allocated a plot before the normal annual date.
2. As someone else has said, find out where you are on the list and ask what the turnover rate is. This will give you an idea of how long you will have to wait.
3. Make regular contact so that the allotment owner can see that you are keen. (But don't become a pest!!) Ask whether you have moved up the list. A friend of mine did this and I'm sure that he jumped several places upwards.
4. Go to the allotment site and talk to some of the existing tenants. Find out who has influence with whoever is allocating the sites and then talk or write to them.

Hope these ideas help.