It's all YOUR fault!!!!!

[Snadger]

It depends how committed you are (or will be) really. I found 10 rods very easy to manage, in fact I used to go to the allotment to weed watch..........as soon as a weed poked it's head above ground I was there with my hoe.........just for something to do.....I was sooooo flaming bored!

Now I have two 10 rod plots next to each other with a few chooks on and I'm getting itchy fingers again................there's another odd shaped plot may be coming available which no one wants.........30 rods, yeah I could just about handle that...........I've already got it planted up in my minds eye.................but I digress!

Spose you could always start with a 5 rod postage stamp sized plot!

[BrideXIII]

It depends how committed you are (or will be) really. I found 10 rods very easy to manage, in fact I used to go to the allotment to weed watch..........as soon as a weed poked it's head above ground I was there with my hoe.........just for something to do.....I was sooooo flaming bored!

Now I have two 10 rod plots next to each other with a few chooks on and I'm getting itchy fingers again................there's another odd shaped plot may be coming available which no one wants.........30 rods, yeah I could just about handle that...........I've already got it planted up in my minds eye.................but I digress!

Spose you could always start with a 5 rod postage stamp sized plot!

ooo you evil evil person, so what you are saying is one plot won't be enough? do you have horns and a pointy tail, you tempter you?

[lynda66]

Keep an eye on that Lynda, she could hatch you that Rhino if ya not careful

!

well the chicken shed is big enough to turn into a rhinobator

[BrideXIII]

can i have a duck pond...with hippos?

[lynda66]

ooooooooo yeah them too, can i hatch em?? ....... you can dig the pond yourself, i still have 2 to dig up here

*starts turning shed into a hippobator

[chuffa]

and I hate/love you for it.

I came on this site a few months ago, asking advice about a few veg in containers.
i now have no garden left to speak of, its covered with buckets and greenhouses, the lawn has been dug up, I am in dispute with the housing about chicken keeping for the future, and the one thing i wasn't going to do was apply for an allotment.

I had my reasons and was vocal about them, i do not drive, i am not as fit as i could be, and the nearest one ( i thought) is a 45 minute walk.

WRONG!!!

it seems there is one five minutes away, so tucked away noone knows its there! its just about at the back of my house, who knew?...plus two more within a 15 minute walk, all three on the application form do NOT have (waiting list) next to them, like others more prominent do, so....

I applied........ for all 3........... my youngest told me too, said he is bored and will help, and it's ALL YOUR FAULT!!!
I hope you are happy, cos now you are going to get nagged rotten for advice, even more than before.

first nag being:
how many rods, cos they are £24 ayear and although to me thats a big outlay at once, I dont want to get too few, if I am asked how many i want?
even one sounds like a lot at this point to be honest so some advice here would be good, cos i know damn well i will go for one and it will not be enough.

hi there, 1 rod is 16.5 feet so take it from there.

[Two_Sheds]

Rods, Poles and Perches.
Medieval ploughing was done with oxen, a ploughman handled the plough. His boy controlled the oxen using a stick, which had to be long enough to reach all the oxen. This was the rod, pole or perch.
It was an obvious implement to measure the fields.
A BBC webpage about allotments says that "an allotment plot is 10 poles" and claims that "A pole is measured as the length from the back of the plough to the nose of the ox".
The perch was used in the reign of Henry II (1154-1189), the pole since the 16C, and the rod since 1450. In the 16th century the lawful rod was decreed to be the combined length of the left feet of 16 men as they left church on a Sunday morning.
In North Devon there is a tradition that fencing, that is to say the cutting and laying of a hedge, would be done at so much a land yard, which seemed to be about 5 paces or 5.5 yards, which would equate to a rod, pole or perch.

The traditional allotment plot is about 300 sq yards - being useless at maths, I have no idea what that actually means.

I have a normal size plot, and it took a lot of work to dig it all over, but now it's done and planted, it keeps me in fresh veg 9 months of the year, if not 10.
I'd say it takes me 8 hrs work a week to keep on top of it, from March-Oct. Although if home life is fraught, I "need" to go and weed every day!

[Two_Sheds]

how many rods, cos they are £24 a year and ... to me thats a big outlay at once

£24 = 20 packs of HobNobs, 6 bottles of wine, or 90 cigarettes. Give up meat for a month? Takeaways? I don't know what your options are, I'm just brainstorming here.
How else to raise £24? get overcharged at a supermarket, write to head office and complain - that's worth £5 each letter.

Got anything at all you can sell on eBay? I just raised £25 selling some old makeup and clothes. You may only get a quid or two profit for each item, but it all adds up.

I don't know where you could cut back in your budget to find the £24 Bride, but YOU MUST GET AN ALLOTMENT
* sorry to shout
Don't worry about affording the seeds, I'll send you an emergency seed parcel to get you going.

No hippos though

[Winged one]

And look at it another way - £24 payment now, but take a look at Mrs Dobby's balance sheet to see how much LESS you'll be spending at supermarket on veggies and fruit next year.

Well, OK, maybe not Mrs Dobby as she is sooooo good at it. But you'll get a heck of a lot more than £24 worth of veggies in a year - even if you only sow potatoes, onions and a few peas and beans.

Get as big as you can, cover half of it in cardboard immediately and plant through that next year (squashes, pumpkins, and courgettes, brassicas (brocolli, sprouts, cabbages, cauliflowers) and sweetcorn would all be good candidates), whack in some seed spuds and a bag of onion sets, and a couple of bulbs of garlic, and then turn your attention to a small enough area for more intensive work for things like peas, beans, lettuces, root crops etc - whatever you and your family like.

[BrideXIII]

I just rang the parks department, who dole out the lotties, lovely woman there told me sadly there is a waiting list on all the sites now, but....... the one i particularly want is only about 3 people long, and as they have only just sent out the billing there is a chance that one might be availabe very soon if they have non payers ( most of the site is as yet still uncultivated, so fingers crossed) and they have yet to do the site inspections. she said that one will more than likely have a space come up first and has marked it as a preference for me whilst also putting me on the list for the other two sites.
just have to wait now and see what gets offered.

[BrideXIII]

£24 = 20 packs of HobNobs, 6 bottles of wine, or 90 cigarettes. Give up meat for a month? Takeaways? I don't know what your options are, I'm just brainstorming here.
How else to raise £24? get overcharged at a supermarket, write to head office and complain - that's worth £5 each letter.

Got anything at all you can sell on eBay? I just raised £25 selling some old makeup and clothes. You may only get a quid or two profit for each item, but it all adds up.

I don't know where you could cut back in your budget to find the £24 Bride, but YOU MUST GET AN ALLOTMENT
* sorry to shout
Don't worry about affording the seeds, I'll send you an emergency seed parcel to get you going.

No hippos though

the first £24 wouldn't be a problem, it's only if they offer me a full plot then it doubles and on benefits thats a BIG chunk out of a weeks money to find, eldest son has promised to bail me out though if thats the case, as for seeds, thats really kind of you to offer, but.......... i have WAY too many already, so I think I will be fine, they are certainly not going to fit in my lil ole mud patch at home, so if there is any justice in the world, i may have a lottie in time to plant them next spring

[Finedon.Dandy]

Now see here Bride *waggles pointed finger* (and dont you go encouraging her Linda *Waggle, Wagge *) dont you go getting no chooks or you will send me green mad with envy.

[BrideXIII]

Now see here Bride *waggles pointed finger* (and dont you go encouraging her Linda *Waggle, Wagge *) dont you go getting no chooks or you will send me green mad with envy.

well if i get the lottie, that will free up some space at home for chooks, if only i can get the housing to agree, which is not looking favourite, but we shall see, i shall keep nagging till they give in.

[Finedon.Dandy]

It says in our deeds that we cannot keep livestock. Even if hubby wasnt such a goody goody, if we did get some chooks, our neighbour doesnt like us so he would report us for sure.

[Hazel at the Hill]

My allotment is a half plot = 20' x 55' = 120 sq yds (5rods ish) and is quite manageable with a couple of hours on a Sat morning (winter) and about 4hrs at the weekend plus a couple of visits in the weeks of one or two hours each in the summer.

I am totally self sufficient in veg (bar potatoes for a couple of months in spring, and then I each either pasta, and have plenty of potato topped dishes in the freezer). I aim for a choice of at least 2 or 3 veg at any one time (currently various squash, kale, with frozen peas and beans - with my eye on the leeks and parsnips which will kick in soon), and I have enough to give to my mum and neighbours and friends when I have a glut (think runner beans, lettuce and radish!)

And actually, I'm rather proud of that - I would never have throught two years ago that I'd have been in this postion! Add in the health and theraputic benefits of working the plot and I really would recommend you go for it - especially as it is so convenient to you.

And the cost? besides saving at the supermarket as Winged One says (I used to have an £8 veg box delivered every other week, so I saved £200 a year at the drop of a hat), think how much you will save on compost in all those pots and tubs that you currently have at home, and with christmas (or your equivelant) coming up, you could ask for contributions to the lottie cost rather than pressies. And don't worry about seeds - as two_sheds says, there's plenty of us happy to help there.

Just do it - you know it makes sense!