Topic: allotment at last

[SunDancer]

Hi All
New to the site and new to allotments. just got mine after about 16 months waiting. long thick grass brambles galore, Going to hire a strimmer this weekend and and blits it all flat. Many of the plot have not been worked in years. can't wait to l can get started. anyone know where I can get the blue water buts in the west midlands area.
 

[Lauren S]

Hello Sundancer welcome to A4A..... and congratulations on getting your lottie.......exciting times ahead.
Slow and steady to start off.... oh and lots of photos please of your progress. We love 'em  :D

Lauren  :)

[lottie lou]

think them blue water butts came for the HP Sauce factory or so I heard.  Where is your site

[tonybloke]

Welcome 2 the site, if you put your home town on your profile, folk can be more specific with the answers to any questions you may have (local knowledge) Have fun growing food!! ;)
Almost any factory who's using liquids will have these blue drums, from perfumes to fruit juice, and usually they glad to get rid of a few! ;)

[saddad]

Welcome to the site SunDancer, we are here i Derby... get ours from Quadralene..  :)

[manicscousers]

hiya, sundancer, welcome to the site  ;D
here in wigan, we get our blue bins from pataks, they get spices, etc in them  :)

[grannyjanny]

Hi SunDancer. Have fun but be careful. If you click on wiki at the top of the page & scroll down to newbies then click on Eristic he has a section on clearing a site. He doesn't recommend strimmers when you have brambles. Take it steady. We are both OAPs so we have to. We always say we come home before we have had enough then we can't wait to go back for more.
Janet.

[archiesdad]

Hi sundancer

I got my allotment last year, luckily there was no waiting list for the site I wanted. I decided to get 1/4 of it under control and growing rather than clearing the whole plot. That way you don't get fazed by how much work there is to clear the full plot.  It's suprising how satisfying it is to get something growing and it gives you time to really plan your plot properly.

I also agree with grannyjanny - don't over do it because it will feel like a chore when it's suposed to be fun. Take photos and refer back to them - it's amazing to see the transformation!

[caroline7758]

Hi Sundancer,and welcome to the site! Good luck with clearing the plot- most of have been there!

[Plot69]

New to the site and new to allotments. just got mine after about 16 months waiting. long thick grass brambles galore,  

Greetings SD and welcome.

Something strange struck me when I read the above and I hope you'll forgive me SD if I mention it. Over the past few months there has been a great increase in newcomers and allotment virgins. Almost every single one has the same story. Long grass, overgrown, brambles and stories of taking on totally neglected plots.

My question is, if there are such long waiting lists, why are there so many overgrown plots being allocated? I know it doesn't take nature long to reclaim what's rightfully hers but many of the newbie photo's we see, the plots must have been neglected for many months rather than weeks to reach the state their in.

When's the last time someone said "Hi may name's Fothergill, I've been on the waiting list two years and I finally got my plot. It's totally clean, weed free with perfectly laid out paths but I don't know what to grow?"

My two plots had laid fallow for at least 5 years before I got them but then, I didn't have to wait longer than 15 minutes to get one. I phoned the allotment manager up and she met me at the site straight away. So the above thought didn't occur to me.

Surely if a plot becomes vacant it's in everyones best interests to let it straight away.

Sorry once again SD but I'm curious as to why there's such long waiting lists with nothing but a neglected plot and hard graft at the end of it.

[saddad]

Getting the "Non" Cultivators off can be a work of art...  :-X

[kt.]

Welcome.  You will love it here.  2nd  to actually being on the plot of course.