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#1
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I gotta lotty
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 |
#2
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I gotta lotty
"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. |
#3
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I gotta lotty
"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 -- Pete C London UK Considerations: Are you happy with the allotment rules? Is it big enough for requirements? Is it reasonably accessible? Is the soil workable? i.e. not full of clay or rocks and the like. Is there reasonable access to water? Are there almost irremovable weeds present? e.g. Mares Tail http://tinyurl.com/6ogp42 Is it in a very shaded area? You need light, rain and no protruding tree roots. If there is garden furniture, is it in reasonable repair? Speak to other allotment holders with a view to obtaining a history of the site such as vandalism, unruly neighbours (foxes and badgers included) and soil conditions. Regards, Emrys Davies. |
#4
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I gotta lotty
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 |
#5
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I gotta lotty
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 |
#6
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I gotta lotty
"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 |
#7
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I gotta lotty
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 |
#8
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I gotta lotty
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 |
#9
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I gotta lotty
"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 |
#10
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I gotta lotty
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 -- Neural Planner Software Ltd http://www.NPSL1.com JustNN. Just Neural Networks. http://www.justnn.com EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. http://www.easynn.com SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Network. http://www.swingnn.com |
#11
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I gotta lotty
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. -- http://www.freedeliveryuk.co.uk http://www.holidayunder100.co.uk |
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