Croydon allotments overgrown

Some people extract the urine, we have them on the site where my allotment is.
The chap who has the plot next to mine gets a warning then comes and digs a bit about 12 feet square then goes away again.(Till the next warning).
Last year he grew a few beans,onions & strawberries.
His plot resembles a field & I get his weeds

The best bit he is a young and is a maintenance man at the university.

I think anyone who lets their plot turn into a "weedery" or simply covers it for months on end (without cultivation through the cover) should get one warning and then out. (with the exception of serious illness). It is not fair to the people on the waiting lists that non-growers should just hang onto plots for months. In our first few months,before we realised the amount of work and time required we got the dreaded warning. We made the decision to commit to out plots and have never regretted it but on our site now I see plots where you could go on safari. It is so unfair for all those weeds to seed.

We had one guy who didn't touch his for three years whilst people waited on a list. Thankfully he gave up one half after two years, then the council took the other half after they had complained again in year 3. Now we have six plots overgrown and untended last year, but still have a waiting list apparently. I hope it gets sorted soon.

I totally agree

It still goes back to what I have said in other treads.
Some people don't realise how much effort it takes to keep an allotment in good order.(it's more than a hour a week)
I still blame the T.V. garden programmes.
Why can't the T.V. programmes do something about allotment care/preparation for sowing/planting.?

Is it TV's fault?
Is it to do with the state plots are in by the time people give up on a plot?

Whilst it is a lot of hard work allotmenting, getting one started can be really daunting.

What help could allotment groups give to new starters?

Smaller plots?
Cleared of weeds? (Granby Street did a tidy up on a plot before giving it to a new person - it involved everyone getting stuck in for half an hour or so doing weeding)
Assisted starts? (Other people could come and help new plotholders)

alldigging,

I think bubblewrap is spot on re. amount of work needed and the need for more realistic TV but I guess its not sexy enough TV to show someone slogging away for a few months clearing weeds, although if they included the banter and the human interface it might be more popular than they think.

I suspect from what takes place on my own allotment site, the cutting room floor would be full to the gunnels with bits that in these days would be regarded as unacceptable - makes for a great camaraderie and lots of fun and laughter but it would never pass today's censorship

Our two newest plot holders, who had only been on the waiting list for a month or so, have both been given advice and encouragement since they arrived. One of them was given a demonstration on how to clear his half plot by a Committee member. However, after getting stuck in for 3 days in a row, he has not been back since - could of course just be the weather, but his plot was/is badly overgrown having been unattended for nigh on a year as a result of illness), and clearing it will involve an awful lot of hard work.

The other newbie, a female, has stuck diligently to her task every weekend and on her day off and with a little bit of help from her sister and a friend has just about cleared her quarter plot. I think she will do fine.

With the lack of volunteers, (Committee or otherwise), for other tasks, I can't see anyone volunteering to help clear a plot for newbies - best you might get is the offer of a doze of Roundup. I saw two prospective female newbies looking at one half plot that had been dealt with in this way at the turn of the year -they have never returned.

We have a number of partially overgrown plots where no one has been in attendance for the last 2 months; perhaps it will change in the Spring - we can only hope.

What is possibly needed is a much tougher regime for letting and supervising plot standards, but the letting lies in the hands of the Council, and the programme the other night showed how Committee members are regarded if they try and be strict or, in some cases, even if they are just on the Committee.

When I took over my allotment in 2005(300 + square yards)it was over grown & resembled a field.
It had been vacant for three years.
I was a complete novice & had no one to advise me so I had it rotovated .
It took me the best part of two years to get it into any sort of order.
During the growing season I'm down there at least two hours every day.
And even with that I'm only just keeping it right.

P.S. went there to day to put stuff on compost heap & plot has 3" of snow on it.

bubble,

A big plot - almost double anything on our site. A lot of work - enjoy

It keeps me out of the pub ...........................................Most of the time

I've just taken on a massive plot and can't get there to clear it, as it's covered in snow. Really annoying as its the time of year when I don't have much work on. Least maybe some of the weeds are getting killed off....

Croydon council won't do anything .... they're simply not interested .... the waiting list is closed due to high demand .... there is a lot of land that could be used for allotments, but the council won't discuss or do anything about it .... and I've tried landshare etc, nobody else is interested either .... I'm moving to France in 2 or 3 years time so will have all the land I want once I'm out there ....

What groups badger them about more allotment space?

none that i know of .... the local rag tends to run a story about allotments every now and then .... just general council bashing, nothing more .... if it's not allotments, it's parking, street lighting, etc ....

i tried rounding up a group of people to take action, but there's so little real interest .... one allotment society contacted 80 people on their waiting list, but we had just 2 replies and neither of them wanted to do anything ....