Topic: Too old?

[Flighty]

Can you be too old to have an allotment?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2009/jun/30/allotment-edith-avery

[Borlotti]

I am only 66 and took on an allotment when I retired, I find I do need help from OH, when I can persuade him to cut the grass etc. etc. and he can do more in a few hours than I can in a week.  My lovely allotment neighbour, who had bad sight and found it too much for her used to stay awake at night worrying about it, and she voluntarily gave it back to the Council.  I suppose I might have a few more years left and for the little money we have to pay find it a privilege but sometimes even now I feel the weeds are overtaking me.  I do not mean to sound cruel but there is a time when it is better to let go, and after all one does not own the plot it is only rented.  I would hate to lose my allotment, but hope that I will have the common sense the realise 'enough is enough'.  Saying that we have some people over 80 on our allotment and they are really strong and their allotments are perfect after 30 plus years.  Some of them have help from their children, grown up grandchildren, but just because you have had an allotment for years does not mean it is your right.

[grannyjanny]

The eldest person on our site is an 85yr old lady. Her plot is wonderful. It's a full size plot & she does it all her self.
We are 60 & 66 & only took our 1/2 plot on at christmas  & it has brought us so much fun, pleasure, fresh air & exercise. I hope I get at least 25 years out of it ;D ;D ;D.

[asbean]

My friend's mum gave up her plot this year, she had a full sized plot, but sub-let half to a neighbour. Her half was immaculate, she was there every week with her hoe, clearing any weeds.  She grew all the veg she needed, stoney ground, no fertiliser, no extra water, no feeding.  Everything thrived.  She is 90.

[Baccy Man]

The issue is nothing to do with age, it is that the council do not feel it is being cultivated as an allotment should be.

Section 1 (b) of the allotment tenancy agreement for Rogerstone Community Council states

To use the Allotment garden as an Allotment garden and for no other purpose.

& section 1 (j) states

Not without the written consent of the Council to plant any trees or fruit bushes or any crops which require more than 12 months to mature.

Whilst that does not expressly forbid the growing of flowers & ornamental shrubs (which appears to be the primary type of plants grown by the tenant) it does suggest that you are expected to grow foodcrops not ornamentals.

The tenant clearly views it as a garden.

This week, it has emerged that Edith Avery may also lose her plot because it is full of flowers...... As Edith explains, "The allotment is right outside my kitchen window. It's my garden really.

[Borlotti]

Blimey that it a bit harsh.  I have planted a Brambley apple tree and a pear tree, and my recurrants and blackcurrant bushes were on the site when I got it and raspberries and my rosemary bush and bay tree etc. etc.  Don't see any of that in my site rules, but I suppose one has to abide by the rules, and it is not your backgarden, it is private or Council property.  HELP.

[Robert_Brenchley]

As long as the plot is kept in order, I think people should be left alone. We have people on our site using plots as gardens, and there's no harm in that.

[Unwashed]

What Robert Brenchley said.

What I found most distressing is that the council were threatening to clear the little old lady's allotment and then charge her for it.  I don't know, maybe she did, but she should have flipped them the finger and told them that she'd call the police if they set foot on her plot, because until the council get a possession order from the county court it would be criminal damage to touch her flowers, and they'd have to convince a judge that her eviction was legal and equitable - and they'd have a job doing that.

[Georgie]

I agree with Baccy Man that this is nothing to do with age but about usage.  There are not enough plots around to cope with demand in many areas and by definition I think allotments are primarily about growing crops.  That said there are many people not lucky enough to have a garden (or any sort of outside growing space) so I do sympathise.  Perhaps the time has come to offer a variety of communal growing spaces to cater for all tastes?

G x

[Borlotti]

Great idea, but not sure how it would work.  Would have to go on a point system, people in flats first, then people with back yards, then people who just want more and more land.  Allotments are the new fashion but wonder how long it will last as newcomers realise the work involved.  You can tell who will stick at it, some love it and get 'the bug', others just play at it and come to the allotment in their smart clothes and let their children run about and ride bikes etc. etc. but soon give up.  Why don't they just take them to the park.

[kt.]

this is nothing to do with age but about usage.  There are not enough plots around to cope with demand in many areas and by definition I think allotments are primarily about growing crops. 

I agree.  Most allotment fruit and veg crops require natures insescts to pollinate.  So I would agree that some flowers of sorts should be allowed.  However,  I am also of the opinion that allotments main purpose is for growing veg. 
My lottie neighbours left and right of me are 75 and 80 something.  Both have 100ft plots full of veg.  The chap in his 80s is there at 6am daily without fail. 

I also agree with Barlotti that sometimes it is just time to call it a day:

I do not mean to sound cruel but there is a time when it is better to let go, and after all one does not own the plot it is only rented.  I would hate to lose my allotment, but hope that I will have the common sense the realise 'enough is enough'.  but just because you have had an allotment for years does not mean it is your right.

[Deb P]

If a plot is cultivated, whether that  is growing veg, fruit, flowers, fruit trees or whatever, and the person is active enough to attend the plot regularly and prevent it from being a pit of weeds, then I see no problem whatsoever. Our site has a number of plots which would not be called 'normal' by council standards (as anyone who has visited has seen!): half a plot growing exhibition standard dahlias, a plot that is immaculately kept, which has a boarder of herbaceous perennials, one plot that is completely orchard fruits etc.

We have also had a situation where a gentleman in his nineties who had a plot for many years was gradually unable to keep on top of the brambles, but was still growing some beans in the small bit he could reach by the gate! We just talked with him and offered help when we saw him, which he declined, and just waited until he decided it was too much for him, which was last year.....he also said he had decided to give up driving at the same time!   The end result was he was happy he decided when to give up, which I think is the least you can do.

I know it is difficult when doing plot assessments, as I do for our site, but at least we can try to be flexible and humane, which it seems some council types are not prepared to be. However, if you do try that approach, it does mean you have to be prepared to explain your decisions to other plot holders, if they get sent a letter about the state of their plot, it is always...'well what about so and so's plot then?' Thus we have some plots with 'exceptional features' some approved by previous Committees/Chairmen that will stay as they are until the plot changes hands, and will be dealt with then.

In the ladies case mentioned above, she is actively cultivating her plot, so should get to keep it IMHO; age should have nothing to do with it. ;D

[Flighty]

Deb P I agree wholeheartedly with what you say!

Given the ladies age it would be surprising if she continues with her plot beyond a few more years but whilst she is fully able to maintain it then she should be allowed to do so.

Once again it appears that bureaucracy has been heavy-handed, short-sighted and uncaring! Sadly that seems the approach they take all too often nowadays.

[flossy]

   As someone said,  to have an allotment is now a ''   fashion  ''   --  s--   the elderly who have got the pleasure from the plot, the friends on site that are made,  the reason to go out every day, the whole
bit of belonging to a small community,  for tens of years  !!!  can't even write properly - I am so incensed !!

 In the 40's, after the war, my dads neighbours were all elderly on the allotment site he had a
 plot,  chats and cups of tea offered,  coming home and knocking up the neighbours with excess produce
  feeling tired and good,  I was about 8 and wore his RAF flying jacket in the winter.


   Can you see todays  '' I want's, and I want it know ! ''  feeling that caring and community spirit ?

   Chin out again !!


    floss xxx

[daileg]

 ill add she won her case and the council backed down on ther decision to evict her im from the area and the local paper covered the story last week and mentioned the whole afair will add its at the end of her garden and she doesnt need to go far looks good to me .

leave her alone to get on with it at leat its cultivated how long ago were we all discussing the amount of un tendered un dug and un planted plots we have one on our plot had a letter last year to sort it and again the beginning of the year to sort it and still weeds everywhere the main problem is its right next to the main gate so you cant miss it everytime you come and go and in fromnt of the public view when people walk past doest make a good statement for the lack of plots

[lewic]

I like the 'buddy' scheme idea, I would be more than happy to help an elderly neighbour out with heavier work in return for gardening advice. It makes me mad how old people get sidelined like this.

[Borlotti]

But we don't know the full facts, did it say the allotment backs on to her garden, has she got a garden.  A lot of people live in flats, tower blocks do not have a garden but some people think that because they have a garden and back onto allotment they can have a bigger garden.  On our allotment the garden that backs onto the allotments the owners have made a small garden on the Council property, without permission and planted peppers and courgettes there and put bricks around a little area.  I now it was only overgrown but once one person does it where will it end.  She might think that the allotment is an extension of her garden and she has had it for years but it only on an annual lease from the Council and she probably gets it cheap as a pensioner so IT IS NOT HER GARDEN.  Everyone is so sympathetic to old people, but sometimes they can be a pain, like the lady who wouldn't pay her Council tax.  She owned her bungalow had worked all her life, had no children, and people who live on their own only pay half or a reduced rate, and she pleaded poverty.  She would have gone to prison but someone paid it for her.  I feel more sorry for people struggling with young families.  My lovely allotment lady sat on the seat on the allotment for the last time with tears in her eyes, I tried to persuade her to keep it on.  She was a gardener all his life and know all her plants by name, she took what she wanted to plant out in her sheltered housing, which luckily has a garden.  This one might be a lovely lady or a pain in the neck.

[landimad]

I am utterly disgusted by this and find that this is not the only time it has occured.
Four years ago when the developers took control of the lotties near us, there was an elderly gent of 97 years of age and he was told to remove his plants and tools before the ends of the day. It took him and the rest of us the whole day to help him.
He was very grateful and told us he would vow to return and get his plot back.
The shame of it was that night he was taken into hospital after a heart attack.
We are very sorry but he had lost his lovely lottie and his life all for the sake of a bit of land and he did no harm to anyone. The money grabbers won in the end. :'(

[powerspade]

As long as you can do your plot there is no reason for age to come into it some young un`s are nine day wonders here today gone tomorrow. Personal I`ll go on as long as I can and I hope to drop off my perch on the plot while winter diggin it when I`m around 98

[shirlton]

Most times its the older folks who have the best plots ;D