GardenBanter.co.uk - I gotta lotty

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After being told when I applied, that it would probably be later next year
before I would be likely to be offered anything.............Hey
hey.........been offered half a plot today. Hope to view at the weekend.
Now, tips please on what to lookout for. I can check a car over prior to
purchase, but an allotment??
Cheers :)
--
Pete C
London UK

"Pete C" wrote in message
...
After being told when I applied, that it would probably be later next year
before I would be likely to be offered anything.............Hey
hey.........been offered half a plot today. Hope to view at the weekend.
Now, tips please on what to lookout for. I can check a car over prior to
purchase, but an allotment??
Cheers :)

Congratulations, and welcome to the wonderful wacky world of
allotmenteering.

Given that you've been on a waiting list, it seems likely that it will not
have been lying untended for a long time, so it shouldn't be too much of a
jungle. And given the low cost of an allotment, it's not like you're going
to get your fingers burned like when buying a duff car.

I would go down there and first identify it, it may or may not be marked
with a number. If not, ask the other plotholders which one is yours, and
identify your boundaries. Then have a look round it, there will almost
certainly be some weeds, but you may be lucky and get some crops straight
off. When we got ours in July, we got a massive crop of autumn planted broad
beans that were ready to pick on day one! You may not be that lucky though.
Talk to the other plotholders, ask them what the soil is like, what
perennial weeds are on site, whether club root is endemic. They will
identify for you anything you don't recognise. Is water supplied or do you
have to catch your own? Is there a local supply of manure? Is it free? And
is it delivered or do you have to go and get your own? Will the committee
arrange for the surface to be cleared off for you? Is there a seed shop on
site? Do any local businesses do discounts for allotmenteers?

Tips -

Buy nothing, at least in the first instance. Scavenge.

Always check out skips, there may be something in them you can use. Few
people will object to your taking something, but it's best to ask first. Buy
a bicycle puncture outfit[1], most wheelbarrows in skips are there because
they have a puncture.

Always mention the allotment when you're scrounging, people think you're a
pauper and are more likely to give you stuff. Tell all your friends about
the allotment, you don't know what tools etc are lurking in their sheds.
Join your local Freecycle.org group, loads of good stuff there.

Check out your local industrial estate. Many pallets and similar stuff are
available. Nowadays (mostly) they don't have a deposit on them and they are
scroungeable. Again, mention the allotment, people often say " Ah, have you
got a use for....."

If water is not freely available, watch out for plumbers working in peoples
houses. Nowadays, many boilers are being replaced by combi types, and this
often releases the water tanks from the loft. The plumbers usually let you
have them as it saves them dumping them.

And remember the three things you should always do when you go to the
allotment.

1 A bit of gardening.

2 A bit of talking.

3 A bit of nothing.

Enjoy.
Steve

[1] I know, I said buy nothing. Make an exception, they can be got for 99p
at the likes of wilko.

On Oct 23, 6:58 pm, "Pete C" wrote:
After being told when I applied, that it would probably be later next year
before I would be likely to be offered anything.............Hey
hey.........been offered half a plot today. Hope to view at the weekend.
Now, tips please on what to lookout for. I can check a car over prior to
purchase, but an allotment??
Cheers :)
--
Pete C
London UK

Brilliant Pete, there is still time to put some stuff in for the
Winter, check it over as you would your garden, i.e. good soil, stones
need removing etc., whatever the state, you will have the fun of
putting it right. Good luck.

Judith

Judith in France wrote:
On Oct 23, 6:58 pm, "Pete C" wrote:
After being told when I applied, that it would probably be later
next year before I would be likely to be offered
anything.............Hey hey.........been offered half a plot today.
Hope to view at the weekend. Now, tips please on what to lookout
for. I can check a car over prior to purchase, but an allotment??
Cheers :)
--
Pete C
London UK

Brilliant Pete, there is still time to put some stuff in for the
Winter, check it over as you would your garden, i.e. good soil, stones
need removing etc., whatever the state, you will have the fun of
putting it right. Good luck.

Judith
I can only think of garlic, maybe winter onions/shallots. Any other ideas?
Of course, I don't know what state the plots in atm. :)
--
Pete C
London UK

"Pete C" wrote...
After being told when I applied, that it would probably be later next year
before I would be likely to be offered anything.............Hey
hey.........been offered half a plot today. Hope to view at the weekend.
Now, tips please on what to lookout for. I can check a car over prior to
purchase, but an allotment??
Cheers :)

Some thoughts off the top of my head...
Check and look out for ...
Is it an open aspect (not shaded by trees etc)?
Water nearby?
Easy access and parking nearby?
Animal pests..Rabbits mainly, which means rabbit fences. Foxes get rid of
rabbits but bring their own problems as do Badgers, local Cats....?
Human pests..Vandalism, pinching of produce, is it a problem on the site?
Perennial weeds.. Bindweed and Mares tail etc that are difficult or
impossible to remove.
Don't assume that a recently used plot has been looked after, I've seen a
number of "new" gardeners that never put anything back into the soil and
complain of reduced yields year on year, finally giving up. Not all
gardeners look after the soil.
Is the soil full of rubbish? (our plot was full of glass and bits of plastic
amongst the bricks!)
Are neighbouring plots well tended of full of weeds (which will get into
yours)?
Are the neighbours friendly?

--
Regards
Bob Hobden

shazzbat wrote:
"Pete C" wrote in message
...

snippy

AFAIK, all the Council sites here have taps, 1 between two plots. We have
loadsa old pallets at work
Thanks
--
Pete C
London UK

On Fri, 24 Oct 2008 06:17:08 +0100, "Pete C"
wrote:

AFAIK, all the Council sites here have taps, 1 between two plots.

Lucky you. We have 4 taps for 120 plots!
Good luck. Hard work initially but worth the effort.

Pam in Bristol

"Pam Moore" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 24 Oct 2008 06:17:08 +0100, "Pete C"
wrote:

AFAIK, all the Council sites here have taps, 1 between two plots.

Lucky you. We have 4 taps for 120 plots!

Luxury. We dream about water taps. Kids of today they'll not believe yer
though.

We have no water supply and have to take or catch what we can, hence my
suggestion about water tanks. We got lucky this year when one of the
neighbouring houses had the fascia boards and guttering done on his garage,
and he got the contractors to feed one side of the guttering over the fence
into our plot, where we have now placed a tank underneath the spout.

Thusly -
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...t152008005.jpg

Good of him, don't you think?

Steve

On Sun, 26 Oct 2008 12:29:00 -0000, "shazzbat"
wrote:

"Pam Moore" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 24 Oct 2008 06:17:08 +0100, "Pete C"
wrote:

AFAIK, all the Council sites here have taps, 1 between two plots.

Lucky you. We have 4 taps for 120 plots!

Luxury. We dream about water taps. Kids of today they'll not believe yer
though.

I remember about 50 years ago when I was young that someone delivered
water to the allotments in a tanker. I've no idea who arranged that
but I can still remember how much work was involved carrying water to
storage tanks on the allotments. The tanker could only pipe water to
the allotment nearest the road.

Steve

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On Sun, 26 Oct 2008 12:29:00 -0000, "shazzbat"
wrote:

"Pam Moore" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 24 Oct 2008 06:17:08 +0100, "Pete C"
wrote:

AFAIK, all the Council sites here have taps, 1 between two plots.

Lucky you. We have 4 taps for 120 plots!

Luxury. We dream about water taps. Kids of today they'll not believe yer
though.

We have no water supply and have to take or catch what we can, hence my
suggestion about water tanks. We got lucky this year when one of the
neighbouring houses had the fascia boards and guttering done on his garage,
and he got the contractors to feed one side of the guttering over the fence
into our plot, where we have now placed a tank underneath the spout.

Thusly -
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...t152008005.jpg

Good of him, don't you think?

Steve

#
It's something we've thought about if the land at the back of here was
turned into allotments - a tank could take the rain water from two
garage rooves and that'd be cheaper than having a water supply put in.
It'd have to be a big tank though to make it worthwhile. My gran used
to have a massive rain barrel - about 5-6ft I think that took rain
from the greenhouse roof.
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