Author Topic: Members taking on second plots? (Read 13329 times)

Spunkey Monkey · « **Reply #20 on:** May 25, 2011, 18:20:29 »

;)Personally I think its greed; we have a couple who have one each;when there are others who have none.

Mr Smith · « **Reply #21 on:** May 25, 2011, 18:57:45 »

The old boy across from hardly does anything to his allotment because of health problems but he enjoys just coming up there and just putting a few veg in but not much, I want to take the part of the allotment on that he does not work paying my share of the rent, would this be considered being greedy or having a social conscious to help him with his allotment, :)

Ben Acre · « **Reply #22 on:** May 25, 2011, 19:11:50 »

I think it is only greed if you take on a plot and dont cultivate it, If u can manage to look after two big plots and keep it tidy ok but if anyone wants another plot they should join the waiting list

stargazer · « **Reply #23 on:** May 25, 2011, 19:34:00 »

We've got two half plots, but some have got 3 whole plots each.

There is rarely a waiting list, and they can't give the plots away, so they are just happy that someone takes them, regardless of how many they all ready have. (we were offered another one last week!)

Kleftiwallah · « **Reply #24 on:** May 25, 2011, 20:04:13 »

All well and good having two (or more)! if there is no waiting list. But it is a bit of a @$%&^£$$ if there are persons wanting to give allotmenting a bit of a go! Cheers, ;D Tony.

Bill Door · « **Reply #25 on:** May 25, 2011, 20:34:27 »

I took on a well weedy plot, over two years ago, that had not been worked for sometime. It is 3.6 poles in size and I feel i have it under control. I asked the nice council manager if i could extend and take on a plot next to mine that was covered in brambles, bind weed and docks. She said that although there was awaiting list (we do have other less covered plots) if she offerred it to anyone else they would just laugh and walk away. It is only another half plot about 4 poles and i think that will be enough. It has not been cultivated for at least 17 years and because of the stones i have found i don't think it has been dug before at all.

I have had it since October and dug over half of it (three times) and have planted potatoes, sweetcorn. marrow, courgettes and cucumber. On the other half i have buried most of the brambles etc. in a pile with pumpkins on top. Bindweed comes through but the hoe deals with that.

It is hard work but i find it extremely relaxing. Even though I say so myself i believe my two plots look better than a lot of others with only one. If I felt i could not get it looking good before the end of August i would feel disappointed with my self and would probably give it up.

So i think it is a good thing that plots are worked and that there are people that can work 10 poles with ease. The problem is what to do about those that can't even work 5 poles and they want more. Hard decision for anyone to make. I do consider myself lucky and will work hard. By the way there are another 3 or four plots that are in the same state as my second plot but i haven't seen many people run to cultivate them.

Bill

Robert_Brenchley · « **Reply #26 on:** May 25, 2011, 23:08:46 »

Ten rods is a fair bit. Plots on my site are about twenty, but they also have hedges. Not many people cultivate the whole lot, but more would manage if they didn't have to spend time on hedge chopping.

Columbus · « **Reply #27 on:** May 26, 2011, 17:24:48 »

Hi all,

As mentioned elsewhere I have two and a half plots.(£100 per year) which is a lot, but they are fully worked and productive. There are empty plots on our site. And the plots I have had to be cleared of years of neglect before I could use them. I hope that in time I will pass them on to others in a better condition than the way I found them.
Every year we get a clutch of newbies and every year about one of them stays for more than a few weeks. People don`t realise the amount of hard work and committment required. If the site was fully worked I would give up the vegetable plot but until then I grow as much food for my own use as I can.

Col

Digeroo · « **Reply #28 on:** May 27, 2011, 08:07:45 »

I am rather concerned about the definition of doing a plot properly. Mine is different and actually currently bursting with weeds mostly fat hen, I see it as a composting opportunity. Though I do get rid of anything which will blow in the wind such as dandelions and milkweed. None the less my plot is extremely productive. But compared to the regimented lines on some plots mine appears a mess. The areas waiting for crops such as beans and courgettes and brassicas are not bare but very very very weedy. The biggest most succulent weeds you have ever seem.

We have several people who took more than one year to get their acts together. There are two in particular who are a joy to behold now but who under a different regime would have been given their marching orders before the end of their first year.

I am as always concerned about newbie syndrome, we have only lost 3 out of 50 and 2 of those were due to unexpected ill health. I wonder how off putting it must be to arrive on a site with everyone around you turning up their noses and expecting you to fail. Even the term newbie somehow sounds derogatory. There is no point in making friends or contact because they are sure to leave fairly soon.

I would have preferred the title apprentice to show you were on a learning curve and would complete the course but the TV has put a bad connotation on that as well. You might now expect to be fired.

Our plots came particularly well fertilized and when that runs out I think there might be a rush of puny crops. There are already a number of plots were the plants are calling out feed me.

Never mind they were just newbies.

Columbus · « **Reply #29 on:** May 28, 2011, 08:06:09 »

Hi all,

The term Newbie isn`t meant as derogatory although in this case I pondered about using it. Its mostly internet short hand. I always try to make new plot holders feel welcome without prejudice, as do others on my site. Helping with offers of strimming and tilling, lending tools and equipment and giving away produce and seedlings, according to the persons needs and manner. We`re always hopeful that the site will be fully let and worked and don`t let past events get in the way of that hope.

I have a wildish area under my fruit trees, I was looking at it a few weeks ago and I was happy with the idea that I had "created" a woodland. So I will leave it. But I also know that patches like that are slug hotels and growing crops next to an unworked plot is made more difficult for that reason.

Col

Sparkly · « **Reply #30 on:** May 28, 2011, 08:19:58 »

On our site there is a limit of 3 plots per person, but no-one has more than 2. There are quite a few members with 2 though or with 2 per couple (one in each name). I think it is fine as long as all plots are keep cultivated. Infact I have one 10 pole and one 5 pole plot. Ant does work these with me though and I don't think I could do all of that on my own. Depends what you want to do. If you want a large fruit area that can take up alot of space. We have a waiting list system and members can join that and work their way up just like new people.

goodlife · « **Reply #31 on:** May 28, 2011, 10:08:08 »

I've got 2 plots and other one I only took because we could not get anybody else to do it..there were no waiting lists then..after clearing 'half a landfill site' I would not let my extra plot go easily..it took ages to get rid of the rubbish.
Now we've had odd people grumbling about about members having more than a plot.. ::)
If the land its used..what does it matter...yes, we have now 20 odd people on waiting list. But when plots come available lot of people have either moved away and are not to be contacted or changed their mind and never bothered to take their names off from list...or..once have a new plot, the usual story, work doesn't happen and plot having to be taken off again.. ::)
20 names on waiting list sounds lot for our site..but in reality..you can easily take 1/3 off when it comes to quieing...average is about 2 yrs waiting.
Now if member has his/her name on list for another plot it is not an issue and once one come available they've been offered it when their turn is up...no 'special arrangements' otherwise. On our area there is quite few allotment sites and having visited some of them..there is still uncultivated plots about.

Unwashed · « **Reply #32 on:** May 28, 2011, 11:48:14 »

It's a really difficult question, but at the root of it is the shortage of allotments. I believe that everyone who wants one should be able to have as big an allotment garden as they want, and that certainly means anything up to 20 poles, and quite reasonably more. Mostly people won't want anything like that much and I'd be surprised if many folk now would actually want much more than a five pole plot, but I wouldn't want to see any restriction at all below 20 poles as a growing family could crop that quite intensively and still need more land, and that at the end of the day is the foundation of the movement in England and Wales.

What needs to be addressed is the shortage of allotments, and not to put too fine a point on it, but if the 100-odd thousand individuals sitting on waiting lists nationally can't pull their finger out and organise, then shame on them. In many urban and suburban situations there's no excuse whatsoever for waiting lists. The 1908 Act creates the duty on parish councils to provide sufficient allotments, and if there's any kind of farmland within the area then the act also creates all the powers the council needs to rent it at an ecconomic price. Councils are choosing to be delinquent in their duty, and at the end of the day it's the prospective allotmenteers who are letting them get away with it. I have very little sympathy for their situation.

It's different when there isn't the land to be found, but it would be a dangerous and regressive precedent to start rationing because the answer is not to allow the situation to develop elsewhere, and not to demonstrate that the situation is tolerable.

pigeonseed · « **Reply #33 on:** May 29, 2011, 22:30:36 »

I like the perspective you give on it, Unwashed, I think it's a healthy one. But I think you're being too harsh on the people on the waiting list. They might have no idea they have any entitlement at all.

People generally feel entitled only to what they can purchase at the market rate these days. With the price of a home with a garden being so out of reach nowadays, a large garden from the council seems like a kind gift in comparison and not something they have a right to.

It would be nice if more people were aware of your perspective, in councils and in the public at large. Once again (like with so much gardening knowledge) I would never know about my rights as an allotment-holder if it weren't for this forum.

taurus · « **Reply #34 on:** May 30, 2011, 07:52:59 »

I've been reading this thread with a rye smile. We are suppose to have a waiting list that runs in the 200's. I have been on my site for many years and still there are 4 plots not let. 20 plots so that's 1/5Th of the site. And I no for a fact that many sites still have plots not let. Yet when these plots are offered by our allotments officer theres no takers ??? The plots are not over grown because we have been strimming them every so often to keep the weeds down. So it begs the question what are people expecting when they come view the plots.
There is also the cost of getting to sites to be taken into account, as a lot of sites in Swindon came into being after the war when the then new estates where built. So are not necessarily cost effective to take on due to distance.
Those that have more than 1 plot have had them for many years, like others in the days when we couldn't give them away. And as things stand if anyone on the site wanted more plots I for one would be happy to let them have them.
Better the devil you no. I'm afraid I take ''Waiting lists'' with a very large pinch of salt. In our towns case new allotments need to be sited where the new estates are being built now, would be the answer. A pipe dream I no, but I'm ever hopeful. ;D

pigeonseed · « **Reply #35 on:** May 30, 2011, 23:20:28 »

I saw a woman once after she'd inspected a possible plot, and she was appalled, she said 'it had grass on it!' - I thought grass is the least of the problem when you take on a new plot. If it doesn't have small trees and a burnt out car on it you're laughing!

plainleaf · « **Reply #36 on:** May 31, 2011, 04:30:38 »

i remember my community garden plot,when I had one
when got it no weeds freshly tilled.
maybe you should give plots to newbies cleared of debris and refuse.
Why should newbies have clear up someone else garbage.

lewic · « **Reply #37 on:** May 31, 2011, 07:03:17 »

Agree up to a point. About 20 years ago I got an allotment on another site. It was on a 45 degree slope with head-high brambles, and I was unemployed with no car and no tools. I lasted 6 months before being evicted for neglecting it!

My current plot was full of rubbish left by previous tenants, who must have been compulsive hoarders. It would be good if councils could remove stuff like this, but it took me months and would obviously bump the rent up massively if they had to pay someone to do it.

Perhaps tenants should pay a deposit when they get a plot, to pay for clearing it if they neglect it?

Digeroo · « **Reply #38 on:** May 31, 2011, 07:25:27 »

I agree about the disposit so that there is enough money to pay someone to rotavate the site when someone leaves if necessary. Perhaps people would not leave their plots in a mess or keep hold of them too long if they know they are responsible for the condition in which they are handed on.

Mind you weeds grow very quickly. But a good crop of weeds is an indication that the soil is good.

Sounds good in theory Unwashed but have any councils actually managed a compulory rental of farmland? Can councils affort to take landowners to court over the matter? Are there any cases where councils have won?

lavenderlux · « **Reply #39 on:** May 31, 2011, 07:47:43 »

In January we had a waiting list of just over 20, our allotment 'year' ended 31 March and ten plots were given up. We try whenever possible to offer people a plot convenient for access (we are a long thin site) but we even then got reasons for not taking a particular plot (in some cases no plot) like :
its a long way from the gate for me
there's no shed on it
there's no greenhouse
its a long way from the water (we have tanks or troughs every six plots)
its overgrown (there may have been a few weeds but no plots were really overgrown)
I wanted one with some apple trees on it

and in some cases people just didn't bother to return a phone call or, in two cases, didn't turn up to look at the plot. We have four people on our list now - so almost half didn't really want a plot anyway.

With regards to clearing rubbish, we (our field secretary and two field wardens) do this where there is a lot (we don’t allow bonfires so can’t burn things) but a skip costs over £100. We did need to have a skip to clear one persons plot a couple of months ago - a large skip and filled to the top, generally we try to clear things using a trailer but only one load is allowed to our tip/recycling centre a day.

Asking for a deposit against leaving a plot with rubbish could create problems – who would hold the money, and its mostly people who have had a plot a very long time who leave rubbish

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Author Topic: Members taking on second plots? (Read 13329 times)