Topic: re unworked allotment

[Suzanne]

Meandmine - I think your committee are not working inside the law I am sure the data protection act does not let them post personal details in a public place - I would be mortified if my name, address and email contact was posted publicly.

[meandmine]

I can also see the other side as a phonecall/email to inform the committee only takes 5 minutes.

Hi Sparkly,
I do agree with everything you've said  :)  My (rubbish) excuse for not getting in touch about the situation was because I kept thinking that everything would be fine in a couple of days and I'd be able to get down there regularly again.  Unfortunately, each couple of days led into another couple of days etc. and before I knew it it had ended up being a few weeks of not getting down there regularly  :(
In future, I will get in touch with them even if it is just a couple of days that I'm out of action.

[meandmine]

Meandmine - I think your committee are not working inside the law I am sure the data protection act does not let them post personal details in a public place - I would be mortified if my name, address and email contact was posted publicly.

Hi Suzanne,
No, they didn't post my personal details on the board, just my plot number.  Sorry if my post made it sound like they had, I typed it all after I'd had a glass or three of wine so it was probably all a disjointed ramble!

[Robert_Brenchley]

I think the really important thing is communication. If the committee gets in touch, and there's a genuine reason why the person can't get to the site for a bit, that should be accepted, and the situation monitored. If it goes on for a ridiculous time, or the person can't be contacted, then that's a reason to take further action. Nobody should ever be kicked off just like that; anyone can have problems, after all. I had one year whn I was so overwhelmed with exam marking plus school that I didn't get anything done for six weeks, other problems like ill-health could go on for a lot longer than that.

[LesH]

Hi Ladicius, have a quiet word, explain that you know she has limited time, explain your concerns, ask if she would object to you running your mower over her uncultivated  part of her plot frequently to keep the couch under control.

[Gazfoz]

Hi Ladicius, have a quiet word, explain that you know she has limited time, explain your concerns, ask if she would object to you running your mower over her uncultivated  part of her plot frequently to keep the couch under control.

And perhaps you can dig it over and fertilise it and plant some veg and water it and then when it has grown perhaps she will allow you to cook some up and let her know when she can come round to yours for her dinner.
Hell she might even offer to wash up although I doubt it very much!

[Need a Leek]

Our 1st lott has a problem on one side where the grass grows to the point where it goes to seed and the seed gets blown over. I have got to the stage this year where I have walked and trimmed his grass down as I had seed growth this year on my plot from his....as he is hardly there and when he has done a bit I ain't so I cant have a word. We have taken on a second lottie and with us both working we are making steady progress...One third done and planted up now I am making sure that I strim the rest to make it look as nice as it can be....It is looking good I must say with a huge raised bed and phase 2 of three is due soon...We don't think of it as a chore, by the end of this season it will all be done without the worry and hassle of it looking like a dump during the summer.....Just keep it down ;D

Cheers
Tony

[Old bird]

I am the site representative on our site - we only have 22 plots - and this year they are all worked and everything is looking good!

EXCEPT ONE!!  There is a young couple that actually live in the house connected to this plot and they are totally hopeless!  I have - for the past 2 years - helped them - showed them how to dig, manure, put plants, seeds in given them plants raspberries and strawberry runners.  They are just totally unworldly and cannot even get to the plot - I haven't seen them this year yet - except the fella walked through the lotties to get to a garage at the back of them and back.

I asked whether he was going to keep the lottie as there is a waiting list and he came up with his wife being "ill" but there is nothing wrong with him at all - he works part time as a "gardener".  He said that they thought they would get rid of half of it as they couldn't manage it - but I am pretty sure they can't manage even a half.  I am going to suggest that the Council  write them a strong'ish letter - because it is now 3 years and their attempts are so bad they aren't even able to be called pathetic!

He said that if there was a site inspection soon that he would strim it - but that really isn't the point - as far as I am concerned.  We have 4 or 5 on a waiting list and they should either "work the plot" or give it up.

Sounds heartless - but some people - unless they have a very large boot up their a**e don't react and I feel sorry for the rest of the site who have made it look lovely and the people on the waiting list.

Old Bird

[sunloving]

I had weedy plots on three sides of mine last year . in the end the only thing that helped was just digging trenches then lining them with plastic then refiliing.

Thing about couch is is spreads by underground rhizomes to so theyll cross the trench in no time espically if your plot has some lovely worked manure filled damp soil and thier own plot is hard and dry and has no nutrients.  ???

So dig and line, thats my tuppence worth, oh and you know where to throw all those slugs now, over the fence! ;D
Sunlovingx

[cornykev]

Sounds like a hopeless case Old bird, split the plot and you would make two would be ploters very happy, good luck and take no prisoners.  ;D ;D ;D

[Peapods]

So dig and line, thats my tuppence worth, oh and you know where to throw all those slugs now, over the fence!

Theres always a silver lining  ;D

[Deb P]

I've suffered the same sort of thing for the past two years, the plot next door to mine getting knee deep in dandelions which just float through the railings on to my plot at their once a year strimming by my next door neighbour. Last month  he was sent a letter after the plot assessments, and has just let us know that he wants to give up half of his plot, with a view to giving up the whole thing eventually. Guess who had just reached the top of the waiting list after two years?..............! 8)

So, I am taking over the half (more like two thirds to the left of what is flatteringly described as a 'path') nearest to my plot, so I can at last sort out the weed problem and have a bit more room to boot....shan't be able to lob the snails there now...... :-X ::)

Look what I have taken on.....

[Old bird]

Looks good Deb P

The ground looks ok for just turning over and getting something in!!

Slugs could go over to the left?! 

Old Bird
 ;D

[Gazfoz]

That ain't half bad Deb, looks good soil and not too clayey either. :)
Will / can you remove the railings?
What will you do with all the extra space, it would be great for some livestock!

[Deb P]

The only place there is a small gap in the railings is at the back of my new shed! OH is contemplating that we could put a 'back door' or even an extension (!) onto the new plot, as it would be a shame to take the railings down. It is the only plot that has them and were put there by the gent who had the plot until the early '90's and used to work at Rolls Royce apparently.

I had a bit of a dig tonight before it rained and the soil appears to be much better than my other plot. The grass seems to be mainly meadow like with a bit of couch around the edges. It is also a bit damper, and there are some strange highly ridged areas at the back...? huge drainage ditches? They are like very deep and solid potato ridges but about four feet across.....no idea at all, the bloke I'm taking it over from says they have been there ever since he had it and doesn't know what they are either! At least I can open the gate now I've scraped back the earth, and I've found the remains of a small path at the back, but nothing running down the midle, so that will be a priority I think. I'm doing lots of scribbling getting ideas down.....!

[Old bird]

Deb

Didn't realise that it was yours to the left!  Wow you really will have an empire. Have you got the bottom or top half or two thirds?

The ground as has been previously said looks good and the weeds don't look too bad do they?

As you say it would be a shame to break the railings - your shed looks a bit special too with that extra window/roofy bit!
Old Bird

 ;D

[Deb P]

I've got the two thirds to the left of the small 'path' (which you can just about make out as a darker line in the grass), so the bit nearest to my other plot.

It is really a good size about 30 paces long and 18 wide (I paced it out last night, nearly broke my ankle walking over the ditches at the end bit!)

There is also a two brick high base at the back of my bit for what I presume was a little greenhouse, only about 6' long, about 5' wide..I'm not sure what to do about that as I do have a dismantled greenhouse with about half the glass, but it is twice that size! I guess I could always extend it somehow.

[Old bird]

Hi Deb

How about a large cold frame with that base?  You may have to build another course at the back to create a slope (either that or lay a thick bit of wood over the back or whatever!  Sounds exciting!

Old Bird

 ;D

[artichoke]

About the "strange highly ridged areas at the back": where I have 2 half plots in a rough meadow, over 2 years I have watched people taking on plots, working for a few months, then vanishing. Almost without exception they have scraped off the grass and weeds and either piled them up into weed mountains, or into long, broad, weed ridges.

Three couples did this quite recently, and when I had a look a few days ago, the ridges were shoulder high with grasses, and the meadow was spreading back into their plots.

So the field is pockmarked and ridged almost all over with these strange shapes.

With these warnings in front of me, I have surrounded my plot with a metre wide pathway of three layers: thick wet newspaper, thick wet cardboard, firmly fixed Mypex. I think of it as my firebreak, and strim around the outside occasionally.

Could your ridges be old weed ridges?

[Deb P]

I honestly don't know, but the chap who owned it says it has been like that for many years. They are very regular and solid, about 3' high when standing in the 'dipped' bit, and about 3' wide as well. One of the other plot holders suggested it might have been two long clamps to store root veg? I've only heard of round clamps, but perhaps someone else knows of this technique? I will take a closer photo tomorrow if it is dry! :-\

As for the cold frame idea, I was thinking along rhe same lines! Plus I would have room for a good sized nursery bed.... 8)