Topic: Tell us about you Lottie

[Garden Manager]

I dont know if this has been done before, but as a relative newcomer i would like to know more about your lotties (allotments).  Not that I am nosy or anything. ;)

Tell us about the geography, soil,  layout, what you grow, you neighbours, facilities, or whatever you like.

[colinandyvonne]

Our plots are in Camberley Surrey.  I've lived here all my life and it wasn't until late last year after receiving a Heathscene leaflet from the council that I found out about them.

They are both approximately 100x50 ft with quite sandy soil.  We've hd a fair amount of success but have decided to improve the soil by introducing mushroom compost and well rotted farmyard manure.  We had 10 cubic yards delivered a couple of weeks ago, 5 of each.  We have only managed to shift half of the mushroom and a small amount of the farmyard into the beds so far.  We haven't got much time at the moment as we are about to move house and need to start packing stuff into boxes.

Unfortunately we will have to start tackling it in earnest again soon as where it currently resides is where we are going to plant our potatoes this time round.

We generally only managed to spend weekends up there so only get to see the regular guys working their plots.  They are all lovely and offer advice freely and also produce :)

We have a shop on site that is quite competetive with local garden centres.  It gets quite busy when the potates and onions arrive in stock and have therefore offered our services on Sunday mornings (10:00 a.m.  :o).

We have water but only allowed hand help hose pipes and not sprinklers.  We are going to try and get away with using sprinkler hose pipe  ;D

Also for a small fee of about £10-20 we can gain use of a rotovator or large trailer.

We grow just the usual stuff we like to eat e.g. potatoes, onions, carrots, leeks, beetroot, parsnips, sprouts, corn, brocolli, cauliflower, cabbage etc...  We also have 3 apple trees, 1 pear tree, 1 plum tree, 1 greengage tree, 2 cherry trees and 1 damson tree.

We only get charged 6p a square meter plus £5 for water usage per year.  Certainly worth it for the superior tasting veggies ;D.
Y

p.s. you forgot to mention your own  ;)

[Garden Manager]

Sorry i thought i'd let some of you go first. Actualy to confess I dont as such have a lottie, I was perhaps being a bit curious about other peoples.

What i do have is a large(ish) garden with a fair sized fruit and veg garden within it. Over all i reckon the area i have for growing edible crops is about the same size as an allotment, so thats what i mean by 'not as such'.

Whilst the garden itself is generaly sloping with quite shallow soil in places, where the veg garden is is quite flat with the deepest soil in the garden. The soil itself is a 'marl' which is the name (I have recently discovered) for a chalky clay soil (clay overlying chalk). On the whole the soil is quite free draining, but still moisture retentive.

I grow my crops in raised beds and practice a rotation system (of sorts).

There are allotments close by, which I would consider, if I did not have the space for a proper veg garden. However the site is more sloping than my whole garden is, with the actual plots suffering from quite a gradient, so I dont envy the lotties there! The soil is good there and the lotties always manage to  grow decent crops, which at times i envy. In fact I regularly go past the allotments, just to see whats going on and compare to my own garden plot.

[Hyacinth]

Your 'plottie' Richard - is it all your own or one you share with your parents, I wonder? They're great pix, btw. - Lishka

[Suze_O]

I am like you Richard, no lottie, just garden.

South west facing, clay soil, some parts more fertile than others, still trying to improve with loadsa organic stuff.  Dunno wot the size is, and weather too miz to go out and measure it up at mo!  Probably including front 1/4 acre. Overlook water meadows and beyond that river, consequently lots of birds and wildlife.

Grow quite a lot in big tubs, like runner beans, toms, strawbs.  Have grapevine against brick wall and also olive bush, which this year both fruited!

Clearing an area at the mo for more vegs. Probs is being SW facing suntrap and clay in winter unworkable and in summer bakes rock hard.  :(

Used to have real prob with slug/snail damage but now have own resident hedgehog (hibernating at mo - btw his name is Jeremy) plus frogs and toads, this year least ever slimey sluggy damage ever  :D

[Garden Manager]

One question? Now you have seen me and haveguessed  my age, what makes you think its NOT all my own?  ;) ;)

It could be couldnt it?

Ok confession time. Strictly speaking the garden is my parents', but i do most of the work in it so to an extent i consider it as 'my' plottie, since i dont as yet have my 'own' garden.  

By and large i get a free hand to get on with things, but of course any major changes have to be discussed before action can be taken.  Not a problem since we generaly like all the same edibles, in one way or another, so i dont find myself growing things I wont be eating myself.

I have ofen thought it might be nice to have an allotment as my own space to grow things i want to grow, but at the moment it would only be duplicating crops and tasks, and doubling the work!!

[Mrs Ava]

Ava wanted to get me a lottie but I wasn't so keen.  I had one with my dad when I lived in Sutton, Surrey, and as a family, we all worked it and loved it.  Then suddenly in 2000, dad died of a heart attack, and I really couldn't bring myself to carry on there, to many memories - just going up to clear out the shed and dig up the fruit bushes was the hardest thing ever, believe it or not, harder than his dam funeral! :'(

Anyhows.........moved to Essex and altho we have a good sized garden with a small veggie patch, Ava wanted to get me a lottie to call my own, so after lots of phone calls, he found a wee site locally with plots going begging!  My plot was 'owned' by a fella who takes on all the derelict plots and merely strims them and keeps them neat, just so the site looks okay and so the council don't come along and butt in.

I am a girl so am useless with measurments, but Ava tells me it is approx 20 paces by 7paces - his big manly ones not mine!  It isn't huge, but it is mine!  It is stoney stoney stoney ground, but wonderfully soft, not thick clay like my garden is!  We have nettles and brambles and a good crop of mares tail, but no couch grass so not toooo bad really.  We are down by the stream which is fed by a natural spring on the common, so water isn't too much of a problem.  We have 2 apple trees bang in the middle of our plot and a row of plum trees right at the end.

2004 will be our first full growing year on the plot, and I am looking forward to trying anything and everything.  Already on the plot we have broad beans, rhubarb (thanks Teresa), onions, garlic, shallots, leeks, black and red currants and we discovered 2 wee goosegog bushes which we are trying to revive!

Thats it really, what more can I say - shed will come thanks to father Christmas, compost heaps are built at one end out of old pallets, Ava is going to build the kids a wee hidey hole so they have somewhere to hang out when mum is toiling and Ava is brewing the tea.....and I guess thats about it.  ;D

[Sarah_O]

That sounds absolutely idyllic EJ.  The lottie, the kids, the no couch grass. Unfortunatly mine is over run with it. I got the lottie in Oct. I've had a few weekends doing a bit at a time. Digging out the roots as much as I can.  Thankfully the next lottie to me trimmed it while it was vacant. I've got garlic, Shallots, raspberries, Strawberries and goosberries in the section I've done already. I've built my leaf bin but not compost yet. Still trying to get crates (and then find a way to get them to site as we don't have a car.)

[markymark]

Hi

Had my lottie for approx 15 months now and is one of the best things I have ever done. It's on a site of about 44 plots and a 5 minute walk from where I live. Wasn't that heavily into gardening before, but after walking past the site constantly I just knew I wanted to sample the "good life"! ;D

The plot I took was totally overgrown with nettles, brambles, and as I was later to discover ton's of builders rubbish, concrete, chimney breasts etc. In all it took me 3 months to clear and hand dig one end to the other. I have since installed fencing, paths and even transported my old garden shed down there.

My first year was repaid a million times over, with succesful crops of, Spinach, cabbage, pumpkins, runner beans, peas, leeks, potatoes,celery,bruseels,salad crops,cornflowers,sweetcorn, sunflowers,garlic,onions etc

But to be honest it's the whole package, being outside, being surrounded by wildlife and different people around me of different ages, backgrounds with tales to tell and always on hand with advice when required.....oh and huge smiles on their faces....Allotmenteering must be the best kept secret ever.

I'm sure your just gonna luv it.

Good luck

[micsmum]

Hi all. I'm Helen and live in Guildford, Surrey with hubby, Pat and 10 year old son, Michael.
We recently applied for an allotment as there is a site about 10 mins walk from our flat (no garden!). My parents had a double allotment at Stoke Bardolph in Nottingham when I was a child and we used to spend all weekends there.
There are allotments available but the steward and the society had a meeting with the local council on Dec 10 as seemingly GBC want to build on the top empty ones - the site is on a steep hill - great views, mind. Most of the empty ones are in apalling condition and the steward wanted them cleared and rotavated which the council have agreed to do with some of them. He said that once that was done we could have ours so it is just a question of time.
We met a lovely lotty holder (as son and I were peering through the barbed wire, again!) and she took us around the site. The holders wish the unused lotties to be used for a public space instead of for building (Hmm, I live in that estate - give the kids something like that and the decent folk are scared of by the hooligans and dealers!).
Anyway, she said that the soil was quite clayey and, depite being on the side of a mountain(!!!) could become waterlogged. Looks like raised beds to me!
it was great for growing brassicas and water was very available.
Michael and I are so looking forward to taking one on. The poor kid is not having a great time where we live at the mo but I'll probably have a chin-wag in the Shed about that one day. Hubby eats but does not dig (unusual for an Irishman!). The last time I showed him a spade ;D -  - he ran. :o ;D 8)
Have been browsing this site for a while and love it. I keep noting the snippets of advice tho' I don't think I can contribute a lot yet.
I CAN dig for Britain, mind!

Happy growing
Helen and Michael

[Gardengirl]

Hi micsmum - welcome to A4A.  I am not a lottie owner (just a few veggies in pots and a small patch with some rhubarb) but I enjoy reading all about other folks lotties.  Look forward to hearing all your news  :D ;D

[The gardener]

As a picture paints a thousand words have a look in the 'Gallery' of my website and you will see a few pictures of my plots.

Plus it saves wearing my one finger and one thumb to the bone typing about it  ;)

[legless]

i'm in whitley bay, tyne and wear and i  got my plot in august after just one year on the waiting list (thanks to my next door neighbour who kept hassling the committee!)

its 90' x 30' ish and i have inherited rhubarb, strawberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants, blackberries, redcurrants, and unidentified as yet currant, raspberries (in a fruit cage), globe artichokes and comfrey. so far i have planted onions, garlic, cabbages, broad beans, sweet williams and tulips.

i have a shed and a falling down greenhouse which we are not using and are going to take down. i will put up a small polytunnel instead. there is a sunken bath which is home to frogs.

as of today shed is equipped with a gas stove and kettle!

i want to grow all sorts of stuff to see what works, without the use of chemicals as far as possible. we have a tap at teh end of the plot but i am going to try not to use a hose and to water with a can to try to keep water usage down and not to water weeds!

beds will have no edging this year as i am poor but i have trampled paths between the beds that define the spaces. i may or may not grow stuff in rows and i will do a lot of companion planting.

all the other lottie holders are great. no toilets or owt but we have a little shop on saturdays and sundays 10-11. manure and stuff egts delivered to the end of the drive and you take what you like.

soil is very good, it had been looked after well and the site is flat.

[The gardener]

ForColin & Yvonne;

Be careful where you put the mushroom compost. It could contain a lot of lime, so no good for potatoes but good for the brassica family......Just though I would mention it, hope you don't mind.

[micsmum]

Thanks for the welcome, folks.
The gardener - your web site is BRILLIANT!. Really helpful. Spent all evening on it (hence late reply) and son loved your photos!
Just got to wait for the lottie now.
Helen

[colinandyvonne]

ForColin & Yvonne;

Be careful where you put the mushroom compost. It could contain a lot of lime, so no good for potatoes but good for the brassica family......Just though I would mention it, hope you don't mind.

Thanks for the advice  :)

Luckily we have only used the mushroom compost on the veggie beds so far...

We still have 5yds of well rotted farmyard manure which has now been earmarked for the potato beds  :D

[derf]

Hi ya all, just been reading about all your lotties. Some of you are so lucky to have water, access to have manure delivered and shops!  

Here in west Wiltshire in a small town called Westbury that no one has ever heard of, I have had my plot since last May, we have nothing - I hear you all say "aahh"

There is only 7 plots on our site, there is only me and a very nice retired gentleman working on the site, his back garden backs on to the site so he very kindly gives me a butt of water.  I have now got a shed so will be collecting rain water this year.

As a mother of 3 and working part-time I find my lottie a great stress relife.  It's where mummy goes to have 5min peace.

even though I only get to go there at weekends, I love it so much that I have taken on another plot on the site, currently covered over with black plastic to keep the weeds down.

I really enjoy reading all your news and find it answers a lot of my questions, keep it up! :)

[legless]

i've heard of westbury ;D

your plot may not have all the facilities but it sounds lovely, gardening is fab isn't it, total stress relief. the bonus you have is that you can have 2 plots, we have long waiting lists here due to people being obsessed with giant leeks and pigeons!

hope you stay and enjoy a4all.

[Steve__C]

Hi All,

I'm Steve, 5 years on my allotment, it's in  Basildon Essex. Only a small site with only 38 plots.
Until last year we were Council run, but they approached us to become self-managed.
Over the last two years I have headed up the team negotiating the take-over with the Council.
We now pay all our rent to the society. Currently £20 for 5 rods. We have full use of water and small quantities of manure delivered free. As a society we were offered a truck for a day and a team worked together filling it up at a local stables and delivering it back to the site.
Part of the take over, required the Council to help us clear the site and get it to a nice state.

Since forming the Society I have noticed that everybody now works together and all the plot holders now take pride in their plots. The small amount of petty thieving has stopped. And we are now looking forward to our best season ever. And the occupancy rate has gone from 50% to 100% and now have a waiting list.
.... and I remember some people thought it was a bad idea being self managed.

This part of Essex is built on London Clay... and I think that we have the heaviest and wettest - LOL.
However, once the ground is cleared, surface drained and conditioned with organic matter it’s probably the best you could hope for!

We can grow just about anything except spinach and leeks. As a general rule we have the best of the weather so things like sweet corn does exceptionally well.

Unfortunately I don't have a digital camera, otherwise I would share some picture.

[rdak]

derf,
My other half knows Westbury well, coming from Trowbridge. Just curious, where abouts in Westbury is the allotment?