Topic: How much ?

[digmore]

This is opinion survey for myself.

How much does it cost to set up and run an allotment plot ?

Plot 10 pole, greenhouse, shed, tools etc.

We were sat having a brew in the shed yesterday, as you do. Without pen and paper, we guessed at £1500 plus yearly on going costs of water, seeds and manure etc. Don't forget travel expenses, to and from site.

Your opinions please.

Digmore. 

[galina]

What was in that brew?  Nowhere near as much!

Initial costs are plot and water rent and muck or a couple buckets of chicken pellets or growmore, plus a spade/fork, a trowel, a builder's bucket, secateurs and a tenner's worth of seeds from Lidl or similar.  Cloches can be homemade (bottle cloches of varying sizes) or recycled window panes with garden wire fixings (there are online instructions how to make them - Geoff Hamilton from memory).

Everything else can come much later.  Nobody needs to set up with shed and greenhouse or polytunnel costs.  Much can be recycled for example pallets for making compost bins and 'rustic' runnerbean structures made from wood (there is plenty to collect after the last few gales) and string.

[gavinjconway]

I guess your brew was made of a real potent mixture - of comfrey leaves, nettles and a few tea leaves!!

I saw my plot as a "money saving" venture so decided I will not pay for stuff that I could get free by asking!! I love my plot and take every spare hour I can at it. it's so rewarding and a great stress reliever..

So I set up my whole plot for a few quid..

Shed £50
10 slabs £10
greenhouse window vent £15..

Yes thats all it cost me initially..

I asked and spoke to everyone I saw for stuff suitable for using... stopped at every building site and skip that I saw and gave a bottle of jam to people who gave me stuff. Watched freecycle like a hawk and posted ads for stuff. 

Ok then I did buy the odd fork and fertilizer etc.. But no more than a few quid here and there.

So in all my first year probably cost me no more than £250 including transport - (I only live 2 miles from the plot and use my bicycle sometimes).

Now I spend a few quid on seeds, fertilizer, weedkiller etc. Probably no more than £60 a year total cost.

see my blog here www.gavinconway.net and you can see what I did and needed to get to set  it all up. It's amazing what people throw away.. like a greenhouse etc!!

[janreb]

I have three allotment plots and taking into account rent (which includes water), insurance, manure and seeds/plants we reckon to pay around £250 for the lot. Haven't taken petrol costs to the sites - which aren't much anyway - or any larger items you may or not decide to buy. Biggest thing we have ever bought was a new shed.

[antipodes]

I am lucky that our sites provides sheds and water is included in the rent (78 euros full 100M2 plot or pro rata for half plot). I guess I spent about 50 euros on tools initially, and the rest I got from scrounging - rocks, roof tiles, wood. A small annual outlay for fleece, wire, fertilizer etc and of course seeds and sets. I bought a few plants to start with (rhubarb, some herbs, and my fruit bushes) but mostly I was given cuttings, flower bulbs etc from other gardeners.. I guess around 150 euros to start off sounds about right but 1500seems excessive to me.