Topic: How long is a piece of string?

[Folderol]

Thanks to those who helped me last time about the Allotments Act and what a Parish Coucil is responsible for.

Now then, our little starter group here in Stevington, a village near Bedford, has grown to 12 and so far we have two offers of land that we are going to be looking into.

But, how big is the ideal allotment? Someone said 50 sq yds, others 100 sq yds and so on.

If you - assuming you have experience of working an allotment - were starting  out again, what would you view as the ideal size and why?

Also, how important is a water supply? Both our potential sites are just fields on the edge of the village with no supply and no potential rain water drainage. Will this be a problem?

Sorry, but we're all novices and need help  :D

[Lauren S]

My half plot is 24ish by 60ish. We do have water. Before I took this plot I did visit another site and they had no water and used water barrels, collecting water from sheds and greenhouses and barrels *out in the open* collecting rain water also.
I know having water piped in can be very, very expensive  :o

[ceres]

A typical traditional 10 rod full allotment plot is approx. 250 square meters in new money.  For some people (like me!)  it's too small.  Ideally I would like to have 2 plots that size.  For others, it's too big.  Many sites are sub-dividing plots into halves and quarters to help the very long waiting lists.

My site has no mains water.  As I'm in the (usually) dryer and warmer south-east with very free-draining sandy loam, I'd say water supply is very important.  I have 3 butts on my small shed and couldn't possibly harvest enough water to keep me going in a normal summer, never mind a hot one.  To solve the problem we have cast-iron hand pumps - we sink the pipe ourselves (very hard work!) down to between 12 and 18 feet where we tap into the water table.  The pipes have to be specially manufactured for us and we import the pumps from the Czech Republic.  Each new pump costs around £800 in total.

I've also heard of sites where they have big tanks that get filled up by a bowser delivery.  No idea how much that costs.   

[saddad]

300sq yds/250sq M is the "typical" plot size. Like Ceres I found it wasn't big enough... have 1200sq Yds which is the max under the allotment acts..  :)

[70fingers]

Hi Folderol,

What a wonderful part of Bedford you live in!!! I am just down the road in Bedford itself Allen Park Allotment (Queens Park with mains water) and Marlborough Park (Kempston without water).

If it was me I would go for a 10 rod plot, you could always split the plots and share a plot with another rookie grower this method seems to work well on most sites up and down the country. A 10 rod seemed very daunting at first, as we prepared the land and became more efficient we decided to take on another plot. It really depends on the requirements of each grower but my advise would be to start small with the option to expand. Half plots are great for inexperienced growers, sharing a plot can be a great motivator and socially beneficial too.

Rain water harvesting is the way to go as others have mentioned. We purchased an IBC 1000ltr container last season. It comes on a plastic pallet and has a metal frame around it for protection. We have put ours on concrete blocks and it has a tap, just waiting for  enough rainwater from the sheds roofs to fill her up now! But before this we used to fill a 10ltr container and hump it to the plot everytime - it was never enough!

Don't forget to support the local Bedford and District Gardeners Association, membership is only a pound for the year and the Brickhill and Newnham shed shops are very well priced for goods. 

Lovely to see another local here, keep us posted :)

[saddad]

Oh, and welcome to the site Folderol...  :)

[Tee Gee]

Have a look in here; http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php?page=9 taken from the 'wiki' link on the A4A tool bar

[BAK]

Re plot size, I would offer a range of plot sizes:

* 10 poles (250 sq/m) for the enthusiast
* 5 poles (125 sq/m) for the enthusiast who has other pressures on his /her time
* 2-3 poles (50-75 sq/m) for the beginners who think that they may be enthusiasts.