Topic: The agony of choice! Which one to choose?

[Spudette]

Hello everyone!  Newbie here ;D  You all seem like lovely sensible people and thought you could help me make up my mind.  I've got the choice (lucky me) of two allotments on two different sites and I'm having sleepless nights trying to decide! 

Choice 1:  is just around the corner from me, 2 mins walk, on a small, council run site.  Its slightly messy as no skip on site, quite a few allotments not being worked, covered in carpets etc.  My plot would be right over the back, 250 sqm of 10ft brambles on a slight slope - this plot has not been touched by mankind since the dawn of time and it shows.  My neighbour on one side is my plot's twin (10ft of dense brambles), whilst the other is a plot covered in carpet and couch grass which apparently the owner of pops up maybe once or twice a year to put more carpet down  ???

Choice 2: is about a 10 mins car ride away, is also council run but bigger and a bit  better looked after - they have a skip AND a small shop!! Posh huh!   The plot is the same size but covered in grass and weeds - but mainly grass and not a bramble in sight.

Now, which one would you go for.......although I think I've just decided typing this question out  :-[  I think I am hung up on the idea that, once cleared, I could just pop round to Choice 1 whereas Choice 2 is a car ride away...but Choice 1 is much more work for a newbie who hasn't really got a clue what she will be doing but can't wait to roll around in mud!

Over to you oh wise ones  ???
 

[sweet-pea]

Hi Spudette and welcome.

When I first started on my plot I had a similar choice, a plot just around the corner or one that was a good 20minsaway  by bike.  I opted for the latter because (a) it was a bigger site, so more people around to ask advice; (b) it was further away form the main road so less traffic noise and fumes; (c) there's a shop on site.  Condition wise there wasn't much between the two.

So personally I think I'd go with your gut feeling and go for the second option, it seems a good site, plenty of knowledgeable people around, and depending on the type of grass, it could be easier to clear.

Oh, and don't worry about clearing it all in one go, I've had my full plot for 5 years now and I'd say I've only cleared half of it, although some of the untouched part is covered in weed supressant membrane through which I plant my squashes.

Good luck.

SP xx

[markfield rover]

If you can walk to your plot it makes a big difference you will be there more ,you can pop
up for the odd lettuce ,bunch of flowers etc
once you start improving the site others may follow!
as for carpet ,hate it but it will keep next doors weeds away.

[Melbourne12]

I have to say that I'd go for the nearer one, all other things being equal.  But they both sound like good choices.  I think I'd have a chat with the allotment holders on both sites, and choose the friendliest, plus I'd consider plot security also.

[glow777]

id go for the near one - once cleared you'll not regret it. Having to get in a car to drive to allotment would be a bind. I quite often walk to mine just to do something for 15 minutes.

[Spudette]

Thanks for the replies.  So I don't need to be too frightened of the brambles then?  Most of my family/friends have been shocked and horrified at the thought of clearing them and keep shaking their head and muttering "years to get rid"?  :o  I was already thinking along the lines of what Sweetpea said, i don't have to clear it all in one go, but years of bramble digging is what is worrying me!

[Melbourne12]

Presumably you're going to dig it anyway.  As you turn it over, you can hoik out the bramble roots.  They do go deep, and you're bound to break some off.  These will come up again, but provided you keep on top of the problem in future years, they'll eventually give up!

I'm not too frightened of brambles, TBH.  There are many more pernicious weeds, like bindweed or marestail, which are exceedingly difficult to get rid of.

[isbister]

I'd go for the nearer one, I'm a 10 minute walk/2 minute car ride from mine and that's too far. I'd love to be able to stroll down on a whim. Agree with others - brambles not too difficult provided you're geared up with machetes and flamethrowers. Just a thought - the plots with head high brambles on my site also contain foxes.

[sweet-pea]

I would quite like to be closer to my plot, ad if the one around the corner hadn't been so close to  busy main road, I probably would have chosen the plot there.  As it happens, I am quite lucky in that although my plot is a 2omin cycle ride from home, it is on my route home from work, so in the summer I usually pop there for an hour after work. 

I would never be able to pop down for 15mins even if it was just around the corner as 15mins would always turn into a couple of hours  ::)

[norfolklass]

I agree with the majority: go for the plot that's nearer, it'll make it much easier to keep up your enthusiasm while you spend the first few months clearing it – it can get a bit monotonous and it's easy to feel a bit disheartened and overwhelmed! I know that if I'd had to travel great distances to mine it would have been an excuse not to go and spend the day hacking down nettles ::) fortunately for me, and unfortunately for the weeds, it's only a 10 minute walk from home!

[Spudette]

OK - i think the war against brambles is on! [mean and determined looking face] It would be better to be just round the corner, especially as I walk past the gates every night to get home from the train station, so during the lighter nights could pop in for a quick dig/weed/fox hunt before going home.  Best choose my weapons then...machete, azada, flamethrower! Best not let me loose with a flamethrower; I once struck a match too hard and the lite end shot off and landed in my friend's (hairlacquered) hair, ignited and she had a 2ft flame thrower on her head :o :o  Luckily for me (and her) it went out as quick as it lite and didn't hurt her (apart from her pride that her hair on one side of her head was syinged and smelly) but by golly it frightened the beejeezas out of us  ;D 

[norfolklass]

oh, and welcome, by the way

Best not let me loose with a flamethrower; I once struck a match too hard and the lite end shot off and landed in my friend's (hairlacquered) hair, ignited and she had a 2ft flame thrower on her head :o :o  Luckily for me (and her) it went out as quick as it lite and didn't hurt her (apart from her pride that her hair on one side of her head was syinged and smelly) but by golly it frightened the beejeezas out of us  ;D 

LOL sounds like you're going to fit right in here! ;D

[kitten]

Hey spudette - welcome to the madhouse!

Sounds like you've already solved the dilemma of which plot to go for, but thought i'd add that our plot is about a two minute walk from our house, which is proving ideal, and i'm not sure i'd make it up there very often if i had to get in the car every time to go there, so i'd say you've made the right choice (for what it's worth lol  ;D )

The one thing to be careful of though is not to try and do it all at once, you've got a lot of hard work ahead ofyou by the sounds of it, so break it into small chunks and reward yourself often!!  ;)

Don't forget to take some piccies so u can show us all your hard work! x

[lorna]

I haven't got an allotment just a small garden but just want to say Welcome to A4A, you will like it here, Good luck
Lorna

[cornykev]

Hi Spudette and a big welcome to the forum, just a quick one who told you there was sensible people on this site  :P :P :P :P :P :P :P ;D ;D ;D. I think you have made up your mind already but I would opt for number one, I am a short walk from mine and it makes a lot of difference, use of car, traffic and (I'll leave it today and go tomorrow) . Find out if you can have bonfires on site, you can have a fire going while throwing the brambles on, do dig deep and get them roots out, and on our site we get a skip once a year so have to be quick to get the rubbish in. I bag up any small rubbish and put it outside the lottie for the dustman.Happy brambling, PS get some strong gloves. ;D ;D ;D

[cambourne7]

welcome Spudette !!

I would also go for the local plot

I offer a suggestion when the weather gets a little better have an alltoment party.

Invite everyone you can think of and suggest they bring a shovel. Even the neighbours who may consider taking up more of the empty plots.

Buy a big bottle for radox Rent a rotivator and a heavy duty strimmer and get going :)

Best of Irish!

[bumble-dee]

hi spudette, i chose the closest site to where i live, but i still wondered aloud whether i'd chosen the right one, (mainly because last year there weren't many plots taken so it was a bit quiet.)
now i know i've chosen the right place as i really enjoy just popping down for half an hour, and since the new year started there have been many more  plots taken up, so lots more potential friends! ;D
have fun burning those brambles but get some extra thick gloves or you could offend others with your language! :P ;D ;D
dee

[cambourne7]

went to bed with allotment porn aka veg catalogues and the HSS Hire guide

I found something that might help

Its an all terrain mower http://www.hss.com/g/62246/All_Terrain_660mm_Rotary_Mower.html

This field and brush mower tackles wooded areas, meadows and verges with ease. The self-propelled wheels handle slopes, ditches and wet spots and the heavy-duty 660mm (26in) blade cuts through undergrowth, weeds, scrub and brambles

Choice of 4 self-propelled forward speeds plus reverse
Pivoting mower deck follows contour of ground - maximising cutting efficiency
Can cut through hardwood saplings up to 25mm (1in) thick

A weekend hire is £113.75

[Spudette]

Thanks for all your welcomes and suggestions.  Loving the idea of an allotment party Cambourne, although knowing my lot we’ll be pasted out on the carpet on next-door’s plot before you could say “who’s got the spade”   ;D
That’s some machinery to rent there – “4 self-propelled forward speeds plus reverse”  - boy could I do some serious damage with that…which scares me somewhat but is also strangely beckoning me!

[timelady]

I'm a newbie to all this too and would say choose the first one. It's all too easy to think that car ride is too much effort. ;) (I have a bike ride, so it requires even more motivation.) The bramble won't be as bad as you think - get some long handled loppers and hand cutters if nothing else. After struggling cutting the bramble on my own I 'borrowed' a couple friends who were really into the cutting! (so I could get on with digging) Between them they cleared about 1/4 of my plot in a Sunday - chopping and burning in a container as they did it. Amazing. I still have to dig up the roots of course but it just looks so much more manageable now. I had a small area of 'easy' clearing and am planting there but figure next year will be more of the planting as I clear and dig this year. Wear long sleeves!  ;D Two layers is best (so they just catch the top layer) and even glove liners are a godsend with the brambles (I just have cycling glove liners and they're perfect).

Also, my site has been pretty quiet too until the last few weeks. So abandoned feeling could just have been the winter.
Tina.