"shazzbat" wrote in message
...

SNIP


I find this facinating, an entirely different system from what I've
previously known for community gardening. And each reply generates more
questions. Approximately how large are these plots, I realize they're
all
differeent but like in what range; 2,500 sq ft, 10,000 sq ft, 20,000 sq
ft... what area is yours? I'm thinking that if you can grow so much
variety, even have fruit trees, then you must have at least an 1/8 - 1/4
acre. For the few dollars a year it seems like a steal, doesn't pay to
own your own piece of farm land, I guess. What do you do if it doesn't
rain for a while, can you haul water by wagon? How far away do you live
from your plot?


The plots on our site vary in size as the site is irregularly shaped. Mine
is quoted as 0.11 acre, or roughly 4800 sq ft. Or even 445 sq metres if
you
like. If you put your google earth pointer at 50.47.09.37"N,
01.54.20.23"W,
that is smack in the middle of my plot. Above and right are my potato
rows,
and you could be forgiven for thinking I was drunk when I marked out the
path. I wasn't, I don't know what happened there, it has been rectified
since that pic was taken, which was 2007.

Rain hasn't been a problem for the past couple of years, we have had very
wet summers. In dry summers we do take water to the allotment, also we use
various means to save water. We now have 7 tanks of water fed from various
guttering. In UK there is currently a lot of work going on to convert
houses from old-fashioned boilers to the new condensing type. This,
depending on the exact system being used, liberates the big water tank
from the loft, which I then scrounge from the plumbers, or out of the
skip.

Here -
http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t...water%20stuff/

You can see some of the stuff we've done. The black snaky thing is a
perforated pipe which I bury with the seed potatoes so I can pour water in
the end of it to water straight to the roots.
And to answer your last question, we live 2.2 miles from the plot,
although I know many people travel much further. I have heard tell of 30
miles, but that would be extreme, IMHO.

Steve

Thank you for the info, and especially the pictures. Nearly 5,000 sq ft of
garden is enough to feed a family and to keep a small roadside farm stand
stocked. I appreciate all your ingenuity and efforts for accumlating rain
water, however it's unfortunate that there's not tap water available.