How much Time on Average??

[Phill]

Having spent way too much time on my allotment trying (sometimes in vain) to get it looking something like, I was wondering what average amounts of time other people put in to keep on top of things, say on a weekly basis. Hopefully I can use this data to convince the wife that its the norm to disappear for hours on end.

[Flummery]

I'm sure it is the norm to disappear for hours on end - unless you ARE a wife! I spent a bit of time down my lottie a few weeks ago when a couple of the old boys were there. It began to rain a bit, one got under a tree, the other carried on - it was obviously going to be a heavy shower. 'Had enough have you?' one asked - not in an unfriendly way. 'No' I said, 'but someone's got to bring the washing in! It's about being a woman - I shouldn't have joined!'

I do realise this applies to blokes on their own who do their own washing - but it certainly didn't apply to the chaps who would get home to find the washing & ironing done and the hot dinner on the table.

[gardenplot]

I have spend about 8 hours a week in total digging up 4 beds trying to get the plot ready for may planning out.
So far it as taken me 3 weeks on and off about 2 hrs each day to get something decent ready
Just wish i could spend more time on the plot but working shifts takes the pleasure

[jacob marley]

It all depends if you have a established plot or one that you have just got and are trying to get it into shape .
Lots of men (not me ) use the plot as a escape hidaway and i have found if you want to work and not be interupted do not go on a sunday but it is easier for me as i am retired .
But on a sunday some people want to talk and talk and talk jacob

[Snadger]

I'm sure it is the norm to disappear for hours on end - unless you ARE a wife! I spent a bit of time down my lottie a few weeks ago when a couple of the old boys were there. It began to rain a bit, one got under a tree, the other carried on - it was obviously going to be a heavy shower. 'Had enough have you?' one asked - not in an unfriendly way. 'No' I said, 'but someone's got to bring the washing in! It's about being a woman - I shouldn't have joined!'

I do realise this applies to blokes on their own who do their own washing - but it certainly didn't apply to the chaps who would get home to find the washing & ironing done and the hot dinner on the table.

String a washing line out at the allotment then if it rains a bit you can quickly put the washing in the shed and carry on gardening!

[Norm]

SHMBO is convinced that it takes up to 6 hours a day, 7 days a week to keep the lottie up to scratch, depending on the weather and if there's rugby on the TV

[Flummery]

String a washing line out at the allotment then if it rains a bit you can quickly put the washing in the shed and carry on gardening!

Grand idea Snadger - but it's a small site with small plots and we're not allowed sheds. I really want a wife to do it for me!

[HeyWayne]

I guess it depends on what you're after. If you want a "show" allotment then you could be there every day for hours on end, but there are plenty of time saving methods that will allow you to have a relatively productive and decent looking allotment on a few hours a week.

If you're going down to the plot top simply grow plants then I guess you'll be there just as long as is required - if you're going to enjoy yourself, then chances are you'll be there a bit longer.

[Matt.]

The time you need to put in ebbs and flows with the time of year. Now is one of the busiest times preparing the beds and planting seeds and seedlings. Maybe I should have invested more time over the winter but the soil conditions were too poor. Once the plants are in and established (late May?) The time will be watering and weeding. This again depends on the weather. Maybe this is something your wife would be interested in? I know my wife isn't interested in the slightest about helping digging and planting but watering and harvesting seem much more appealing!

Its so hard to say how much time you need as it depends on the crops you've planted, the size of your plot, your fussiness about weeding etc and the weather.

[greenstar]

Do you mean actually working? We seem to spend all our free time down there: the kids have got pals there to play with and we always seem to end up nipping to the offy because somebody's turned up that we haven't seen for a while, or it starts raining and everyone piles into our shed. Working time? Probably about a day a week in the height of the growing season, but then we get a lot done just pootering about with a cup of tea/beer in hand.

You blokes - get the wife up there as well. I've found that if you're not in the house it doesn't get as dirty so it doesn't need cleaned, and our lottie's a good 15 minute walk from home so the washing would be soaked by the time I got back anyway!

[SarzWix]

I spend as much time as humanly possible on mine (and I'm the wife ) I reckon at least a couple of hours a day, but last week I was there all day, from dropping the kids off at school til picking up time while I barrowed the hugest pile of woodchip down to plot to cover the paths. As a result, we're all on 'emergency clothing' (the stuff from the back of the drawers that only gets worn when desperate) as I didn't get a single bit of washing done all week I'm really lucky to have an OH who is more than capable of operating the washer, cooking meals & cleaning the house, so he did that all weekend whilst I got the potatoes planted

[carlseawolf]

Hi phil ,
I know where your coming from on this one as i had the same thing last year when i started , time to prepare an allotment could take 6hrs a week to 30 hrs a week depending whether you are give a field or freshly gromed plot.
I personally had the field and it was 20 hrs a week for several months to get it somewhere close to workable and be able to get a crop , the only way you partner will ever know what it takes to clear a plot is to get them to do sum with you so they can see the weeds don't go away by magic.
I'm in my second year so it's alittle slower and i have tried alsorts to fit in time including been down the plot before the the sun rises just so i'm home to do things with the kids whitch bugs the hell out of me because all they do is sit around and watch tv.
Comprimise is everything as time between your lottie and your family is always a tricky balance and my partner works diffrent shifts each week and trying to fit the time in when it's gardening weather can be abit of a juggle so we now have sunday as a family day what ever the weather.

[Mikey]

As a newbie, and owner of a particularily rough patch, around 2 to 3 hours a night. Getting more as the nights draw out, 9pm last night!!, but I am also not into beasting yourself, as you end up very tired and unable to do anything else.

Family commitments is a tough one, non committal wife, and young daughter, does mean that weekends are out of the question, and I am pushing my luck before the nipper goes to bed. So somewhere between 10 and 15 hours a week at the mo, but I know that will drop to about 1/2 an hour a night when things are established, and a simple dutch hoe and watering can will surfice. But then there is always other jobs that can be done, like painting the shed, making water butts and guttering, building cloches, turning compost.

I thankfully can walk from home to the lottie, and take great pleasure in doing so, with me wellies and spade (no shed yet, freebie on its way). Its the peace and tranquility of the evening that I like most, me the birds and the worms, sheer heaven.

[Pumpkin Becki]

Like Carl, we also had a field to take over, admittedly our private allotment is about a quarter the size of a standard council allotment, but it is sufficient for our needs at the moment.

We did raised beds, which were quite labour intensive to set upinitially, but need very little mainenance on a day to day basis. Most of my time at the moment is spent sewing seeds and tending the new seedlings which I do at home rather that at the lottie.

We try to spend a couple of hours a week (not much I know) actually at the lottie, just checking things over, strimming paths, earthing up tatties that sort of thing, and three to four hours a week with my seeds and seedlings at home.

A couple of times last summer we took fish and chips up to the lottie and just sat and watched the sheep, it was really special.

We live about seven miles from our lottie at the moment, but once we've finished building our new house, it will be in gentle strolling distance and we will devote more time to it without a doubt.

[Paulottie]

To get started...It takes a lot of effort. I don't have much to do except harvest asparagus and sprouting plus; sow, set out stuff on my first plot but I'm starting a second plotand I'm sinking HOURS of effort into that. My mrs has been very tolerant, but she knows thing will get less demanding eventually.

However once established though you do most of the digging work in winter and spring is propagation- I spend a few hours a week in the greenhouses and sowing. Generally once you are on top of the weeding problem, it shouldn't take more than a few hours a week to maintain and harvest a plot in Summer and Autumn. Little and often is best. If you let it get away from you in Spring though you are lost!!