Topic: empty plots

[bazzysbarn]

If the latest trend is to grow your own and get an allotment then why is it on my site there is at least 7 empty plots? Is it because it looks easy on the telly(eg GW)? I gave a plot up last month and its now growing the usual weeds as its not been taken.

[Jeannine]

Don't know , there was a full set of allotments near where I lived in the UK which no one wanted, the council was giving free rent for a year and still no takers. We were on one   further away because it was a much more established one with more amenities.  The empty one was 200 hundred yards from our house. Maybe folks are just choosy.

[nilly71]

It might be that some people do not know how to go about getting one or to shy to walk onto the allotment and ask. I was ok as I talk to anyone ;D

Maybe your allotment can have an open day and advertise localy in the paper or shops. Now the weather has changed, people might be in a gardening mood.

Neil

[Trevor_D]

It sounds like a combination of lack of facilities, lack of publicity and lack of the powers-that-be wanting to make things happen.

Our site is fully tenanted - although it wasn't a few years back. But we've got a good team who get things done and spread the word; my contact details are on the gates; we're on the Borough's web-site. As soon as a plot becomes vacant I split it into 2 or even 3 and I've still got a waiting list. And there's a buzz about the place, so anyone new coming in wants to be part of it.

[PurpleHeather]

It depends on who is running the plots.  There are tenants who will pay up each year and keep intending to do something but other things happen and they never manage to get to the allotment at all, so it appears the plot is unlet.

We are a self managed site and we inherited them and surprisingly, it was hard to get rid of them. Even now, over 25% of those who get a plot are unable to look after them. So we carefully watch, the first year offering help to start with then getting tough when they complain it has been too wet or too dry to do anything.

It is true that not every one realises that you do not  get a freshly dug plot to plant in, then come back in three months and find it all weed free and ready to harvest.  Others get 'the bug' and they spend all their free time on it. A few just visit a couple of times a week and work damned hard.

Now that we have the whole site neat and attractive, more and more people want a slice than ever. Each one, on the waiting list, in turn gets a try.  Some have come on having to ask help in identifying what are weeds and what are the rhubarb and strawberries, which were left by the last plotholder. I have been asked where they can buy the seeds to grow potatoes ( yes they did think they would be in a packet), and were amazed to find out that the potato which can be cooked can also be planted to grow more.

Some of these have become fairly expert at growing. Others who are there often and enjoy it, we know will never truly master it all, but they are trying and must find it theraputic. Some grow flowers as well as edible plants, some have a lawned area because it is their garden. It is not all about getting extra food to eat.

We divided some plots, that is all some want and all others can manage, even then, one will struggle with a couple of small beds and another will get a large enough crop to feed a family all year and would gladly take on a second plot which we can not allow due to the shortage.

All we ask is that the area is kept tidy and used.





 

 

[bazzysbarn]

Its a council run site and apparantly there is a waiting list! We have a toilet and and 2 portacabins, one sells stuff and the other is just a general meeting place for us. It seems some people turn up do some, all eager with new tools few months down the line never see them again!

[gp.girl]

The plot next to me came up last year. A family got the front part staight away but the back was offered to another person on the waiting list. Apparently it was too weedy, compared to mine when I got it it was fine and I got a good one! Other new plot holders have worked miracles on plots that had been abandoned for years. The family now have the whole plot and are making great progress.

It's not just one either other plots have been left to the weeds and rejected for it.

[grannyjanny]

We went to our daughters plot today to help her make a start. It hasn't been cultivated properly for at least 9 years. Several people have taken it on & given up after a few weeks. I think the other plot holders know we mean business after having 8 tonnes of manure delivered ;). She was told at Christmas she had a plot, then told they had to decide if the plot was being split. Two weeks ago she got her key & today OH started the task of double digging, trenching & manuring. There are several plots still empty, daughter has had her name down for 4 years.

[superspud]

Though I am loathe to put my tuppence in as I do not and never have had a plot, I also imagine they stay vacant because many imagine plots being broken into and their valuable tools going missing, as well as their hard work destroyed by vandals and thugs etc.  I know I would sit and think abou tit 3 times before getting one, I like my tools where I can see them and the fact no one can just stroll around my beds or such trampling or damaging it all.

I think ~Theft and vandalsim play a large part, then there is the rules and regs that people may think kills what they would like to do with their time plot and work. I know I would not like to be told I can not grow something just because it would take more than a year or someone ( council officers ) played megolomaniac with me.

[bazzysbarn]

We dont get hardly any vandalism so i dont think that is not a reason. After 25 years of having allotments we have had our shed broke in to about twice. You dont have to leave your tools on the plots we always take our stuff with us.

[gwynnethmary]

In my town there are several sites,all council "run", and all of which have long waiting lists.  There appears to be a culture of "selling" tenancies on, despite the council's rules to the contrary, which is very tough on people waiting around on lists for years!  The system which is supposed to be adhered to is that a plotholder may have a partner signed on to his/her agreement, who then gets first refusal of the plot if the plotholder decides to give it up.  The partner has to be on the tenancy agreement for at least 12 months.  This is the case with us.  My friend is a partner, and I help her.  Between us we have about a third of a lottie, which is just enough for us.  In the couple of months since we took it on we have dug it into beds, and both of our husbands have laid paths for us and are renovating one of the sheds for our own use.  We have helped the plotholder to barrow manure, and always leave anything of his we have used as we found it.  He gives us the benefit of his experience, and we have now got a previously carpet covered and unsightly area of his plot looking tidy and coming into production.  Our enthusiasm is growing rather than diminishing, and the only problem is keeping away from the lottie so that we can get other things done.  At the top end of our lane there is a huge plot that has been empty for months.  The council have erected a new fence, and buldozed all of the previous contents, broken down cabins etc onto the next plot, also empty, and without the benefit of a fence at all.  It is just a rubbish tip really, and there is no sign of any activity from the supposed community garden which is what the bulldozed plot is meant to be.  There appears to be very little "management" going on by the council, and I would love to see our site being self- managed by people who actually have an interest in the whole business of growing things and lottie life!

[gaz2000]

think we only have one plot available,and its been in that term for a long time as it floods real bad,and hasnt the best of sunlight

when i had to pick my plot there were a good dozen plots,but now there is just the one,and a long waiting list  :)

must say though that mine is in partial shade,but still grow what i like,plus i only have a neighbour at the end

i couldnt have made a better choice tbh despite the hard work ive put into it  ;D ;D

[Manouche]

We have a very long waiting list in Portsmouth for allotments.

All of ours at Milton Piece are in use and the council have now taken over most of the car park and put in raised 1 Rod plots as a trial.

These 1 Rod plots are avaiable to those people at the top of the waiting list which at the moment is a 3 year wait and are priced at £6.10p

 All plots given up in the future will be divided into 3 Rods £18.30 per annum.

So far no one seems to have taken up the offer of 1 Rod because if they do they then go to the bottom of the waiting list for a three rod plot.

A bit of a gamble if you think a bigger one may come up soon.

[grannyjanny]

Our daughter got her plot a couple of weeks ago. She was told at Christmas she was top of the list, then told she wasn't. We couldn't start on it because the contractors were going in to lay a path. Then they had to go back in because it was to far the other way & gave her more plot now it's to far the other way & has taken land away & they have created a huge hump ::). The other plot was offered three weeks ago by letter & they haven't replied. Gosh they're keen. The weeds are growing well ;D & will spread their seeds then the contractors will be called in again. All this on the tax payers. The mind boggles. Having said all that the site & people are really lovely.

[campanula]

yep, we have had empty plots for more than 8 years where the 'owner' has not done a hands turn of work but will not give up even a portion of their plots. How selfish is that? A couple of years ago, a new council officer tried to make me give up one of my plots (I have 2) as there was such a long list - obviously, i am not doing that while the situation of endless wannabe idlers exists. The council backed off quick smart but the fallow plots (there are 3 on a 19 plot site!) remain registered to invisible tenants.

[bazzysbarn]

Is there a long waiting list in Portsmouth as the football team are not worth watching!!!  ;D ;D

[belairebel]

When I took on my allotment, about 6 years ago, about half of the HUGE site was a jungle and we had a free choice. My daughter and I took one each at the far end of the site but she was chucked off after 2 years as she never turned up. I then swapped my allotment for one at the very edge of the site because I like to be well away from people.

My "old" allotment is still unlet, although the Council (Brent) insist there is now a waiting list! There are also several other sections that have never been let and far to many real "old timers" who have more then one plot and who really cannot look after them all.

The new chap at the Council keeps telling us that they are going to sort it all out but they never do. I have no faith in them at all.