Topic: Who's had an allotment the longest?

[angle shades]

I've only had mine for for 7 years and it's my sanctuary.It's a very friendly and social lottie site.Everyone swaps plants,seeds and advice with each other,and water each others greenhouses when at work or on hols. Everyone seems to be growing lots of different tomatoes this year and they are being swapped all over the site. When my shed was torched along with 12 others two years ago the kindness of my fellow allotmenteers was unbelievable,new shafts were put on any tool heads found in the ashes or new tools given to me, a new shed was found, dismantled and put on my plot(it's now painted ocean blue with white trimmed window and slats).The site is beautiful,my plot has a d**e and a river at the back of it, a mature orchard in the middle of it and lots of wildlife and insects to photograph. I feel like Snow White ;D. It's paradise/shades x

[Dunc_n_Tricia]

I can't claim to have been the longest serving allotmenteer, but there are now three tennants on our small site who arrived after me n-Dunc. There are only 14 plots (and one tennant has two of them), and there is a nice range of ages.

I'm the youngest and i'm in my early thirties. When we took over our plot in april 2003 I thought we didn't have enough time to get some things started. With all the digging and weeding to be done, there was little time to plan what to grow.

Our new friends at the lottie were full of helpful advice though, and when we had it dug and marked into beds - baby plants of all kinds were offered. We had courgettes, lettuce, shallots and others from various sources. It was heart warming because by the time I could plant, it was a little late to start sowing seed.

We had a cracking year, and the produce was more than we had hoped for at the start.

I finally "arrived" as a proper allotmenteer this year though - whan one of our senior members asked my advice about his asparagus  :D ;D :D

Where I come from there is a saying "There's nowt wrong wi right folk." Whatever the age of the other plot holders on your site, we all have a lot to learn from one another - and if we agreed about everything, there would be nothing to gossip about whilst the onions grow.

Have fun!!!

Tricia :-*

[tim]

Great news, all this, isn't it?

[growmore]

I have had an allotment for 40+ years since being at school  but how they have changed...
Today we seem to be more like liesure gardeners than allotment holders....
We always kept the house in veggies but also most kept hens ,rabbits ,ducks geese etc... .   .Some of us bred pigs others bought a couple of 8 week old ones to fatten up for home use..
My kids wouldn't eat rabbit stew as they knew it was from rabbits we had kept but they loved the 4 legged chickens i used to roast  in  the oven wrapped in tin foil and sliced before it went on their plates    ;)
There weren't many who didn't have something in  a shed wether it be cockerels ,,ducks, geese .which they were fattening up for Christmas...
No veggie waste went onto the compost heap it went in the coppers to be boiled up and mixed with meal etc for the live stock..We had manure a plenty for the garden
The community spirit still exists on allotments to a point bit it isn't the same as it used to be .. But it is still a great hobby (obsession  :)  ). cheers Jim

[moonbells]

I'm a veteran of just five years, and have only just recently got it to the stage where I'm happy with how it's turned out. Loads of newbies have recently appeared so for some reason I keep getting asked how I do things instead of me doing the asking!

I have had an allotment for 40+ years since being at school  but how they have changed...
Today we seem to be more like liesure gardeners than allotment holders....
We always kept the house in veggies but also most kept hens ,rabbits ,ducks geese etc... .   .Some of us bred pigs others bought a couple of 8 week old ones to fatten up for home use..

Some of us can't help it though - restrictive covenants are in place at a lot of council-owned sites. We can't have livestock of any form on ours (which is a pain as I'd love some bees). Got another one at the house so can't have any there, either... :(

The community spirit still exists on allotments to a point bit it isn't the same as it used to be .. But it is still a great hobby (obsession  :)  ). cheers Jim

On my site there's relatively few folk who have had plots since before the publicity push of a couple of years ago - but I've never met anyone up there who isn't friendly and happy to help!

moonbells

[mc55]

a whole 7 months !  and loving every minute.

Met some lovely people, very friendly and helpful ... they are also super encouraging at the (slow) progress I'm making.  I've grown flowers before but this is my first real attempt at growing veg - mixed results so far, have been unable to get carrots, parsnips and cauliflowers to germinate, but have had great success with other stuff (although killed 5 of my okra and 4 sweet peppers as I left them in the propergator too long  :(  )

Weeds are becoming a little overwhelming, but I'm on holiday all of next week, so hopefully will be able to tame them.

A4A, the wonderful people and the advice contained within has been absolutely fantastic - thanks everyone, am learning so much.

[djbrenton]

I've not had an allotment all that long but a couple of our tenants must be pushing close to records. Bernard's Dad got his plot in 1912 and handed it over to Bernard in 1937. Bernard was first taken to the plot in 1920 in his pram. Shirley also has her Dad's plot and she started going there ( again in her pram ) in 1945 when he took it.

[tim]

I thought that I would hold off in this - expecting to have the longest record - because, although we started with 2 lotties in 1959,  we pulled back in 1970 to the equivalent at home.  Now Jim's great story has arrived & I may have to bow?

But I did start helping my Father on his market garden in the '30s. Maybe that counts.

[kippers garden]

This is all brilliant stuff...so interesting..especially the part about how now is more as a hobbie for people whereas before it was a neccessity if you wanted veg etc

[tim]

Necessity? In 1946 - in command of the base at Turnhouse - I arranged for all the spare gound to be put into use. And had the catering officer keep a record of the returns from the plot. I used the Fire Engine to water the brassica in!

My Confidential Report was more concerned with my planting than my piloting!! Sad?

[Doris_Pinks]

Had mine think it is 7 years now, but always grew veg in the garden before that.
We definately look on ours as a necessity, It HAS to feed us.
I don't work fulltime,(a decision we made when we had the girls) so I feel it is my imput into the family, plus we could never afford organic veg, this way we grow it ourselves! ;D

[Crusher]

Still classed as a newby me...7 months.....which has entailed lots of hard work... the plot was very over grown but between me and my mum we have conquered it and now it is looking really good...

We chose to get one for several reasons, the thought of fresh veg, no room left in my own garden, and a hobby for my mum who had recently retired..

We looked at several different sites, and lucky we made the best decision.. The site we are on is approx 80% occupied with around 40 plots... Age ranges from mid twentys to late 80's... Only last week we had a couple of younger people (early tweintys) looking around interested in taking on a couple of plots. Since we have been there we have been given no end of encouragents from fellow allotmentees (is that the correct terminology or should I say Lottees...?). The advice is always thick and fast coming, and we listen and learn... We have been in undated with cuttings, seedlings, and fully grown plants, seeds and sample crops... One comment I have, is with the increased access to the Internet people do do their own research and therefore the need to ask has been reduced greatly (e.g. this forum).

The atmosphere is friendly and family like....We have settled in and agree it's the one of the best decisions we have made... Mum has extended her circle of friends which is good as she has just moved over from Essex. We are looking forward to the summer BBQ's including a variety of home made wine tasting sessions, obviusly all made from home grown stock..

We have an open day planned for September to encourage more people to come and join our happy family...so fingers crossed this will be a success and we will become a 100% populated site...

Happy Allotmenting to you all....

Mark...

[plimsoll plot]

this is my third year and loving every day at the plot i love this time of year evrything is growing and it changes day to day.

today i have put planks of wood all around my plot to stop the grass growing over onto my plot and have made a rised box at each side of the plot with fruit bushes.

my cherry tree has also fruited for the first time ever all on time so will be netting it very soon to stop those birds.

well thats it folks have fun