Author Topic: I have popped back agin to say hi!  (Read 2474 times)

antipodes

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I have popped back agin to say hi!
« on: August 16, 2017, 14:24:38 »
Hello to A4Aers, sorry I have not been visiting the site recently! Life is in a bit of a whirl this year. Since my separation in 2015, I now have a new partner in crime. As my (rather grown up) kids live one week with me and the next at their dad's, I share my time between my flat and my OH's house, where we have a huge veggie garden.  So at the end of the season I am giving up my allotment so we can concentrate on our veggies. I am not sorry to leave my site, as the atmosphere has changed there, there is a new site manager and I cannot stand her, I find her totally patronising. She doesn't understand at all that you can garden in many different ways (her plot has no mulch, not a blade of grass and she is allowed to hose with a pipe because of a "medical condition"..?) so she has constantly nagged me because I do not remove the green waste from my plot, but rather put it back into the ground. As I am just waiting to move my plants after summer, this year I just did spuds, beans and tomatoes. Constant heatwave and drought has not given much of a crop! I explained that I am leaving, and that I am just waiting to shift my plants so I am only biding my time on the plot before I dig it all over. But she still makes remarks all the time. So I will be pleased to go, even though it will be sad to dig up all my nice plants.
I am rather looking for advice on how to do that. I have to shift - artichokes, rhubarb, gooseberry, raspberry, herbs and a rather large grapevine.   When should I do this, keeping in mind that it has to be December at latest ? Should I prune any before ?

With my new OH, we have had a great tomato crop, cukes, beans are in fits and starts and the spuds were rubbish. We have some beautiful winter squash though, and the autumn crops like leeks, beets, chard etc are looking all right so far. My fella is a hard worker and he has done lots of work on the soil (clay mostly), which we will continue over time. My ex could not stand my allotment - now with my new fella, we are always working the garden or we just wander round and admire it. We also keep chickens, geese and ducks, a dog and two cats, real country bumpkins!

I hope that all you guys are as happy as I am now and that your gardens have filled you with joy this season.  I will try to hang around A4A a bit more regularly now!
Antipodes
2012 - Snow in February, non-stop rain till July. Blight and rot are rife. Thieving voles cause strife. But first runner beans and lots of greens. Follow an English allotment in urban France: http://roos-and-camembert.blogspot.com

Digeroo

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Re: I have popped back agin to say hi!
« Reply #1 on: August 16, 2017, 16:01:23 »
Nice to hear your news. 

Everyone one our site has a different way of doing things.  Like you I am very keen on mulching everything as much as possible to cut down need for watering.   I do not think I could cope with someone making negative comments about my effort. 

Gooseberries are amazingly tolerant of moving.  Someone on our site was given several which I thought were rather big to move but they have done well.     But I am not sure about a large grape vine.  I suggest taking some cuttings of things now, so if your moving does not go to plan at least you will have some new plants coming on.  Rhubarb - the winter is a good time to move.  Raspberries seem to move well too. 

It must be nice to have a kindred spirit to work with you in the garden.   

Tee Gee

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Re: I have popped back agin to say hi!
« Reply #2 on: August 16, 2017, 16:10:51 »
Quote
as the atmosphere has changed there, there is a new site manager and I cannot stand her, I find her totally patronising.

Not a school teacher by any chance is she?

That statement is very familiar to my situation to the point that this year I have been altering my garden at home to enable me to grow there.

At the end of this season I will be moving an 8x6 greenhouse from the allotment o my back garden that I feel will be sufficient to grow enough tomatoes & peppers for me and t'other half.

If next year I find that my changes are to my liking I will give up my allotment as well.

So glad  to see you back and that your changes are to your liking, hopefully my changes will suit me too.

antipodes

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Re: I have popped back agin to say hi!
« Reply #3 on: August 16, 2017, 17:11:31 »
Quote
as the atmosphere has changed there, there is a new site manager and I cannot stand her, I find her totally patronising.

Not a school teacher by any chance is she?

Ha ha! No, she is retired, and she is there ALL the time, I suspect she sleeps in her shed! She says that in the allotment we should be 'surrounded by beauty', OK, but beauty is very subjective! When I am wading through thigh high mint, an unruly grapevine that has spilled out of its trellis, or a patch of marigolds that have sprung up by themselves in a sea of yellow and orange, I happen to find that beautiful too, even if there are a few weedy bits and nothing is in a row! And I also think that an allotment is not always that attractive! I compost a lot of stuff, so have heaps here and there, for my soil condition. It's good for the garden, but it's kind of ugly! So we just don't see eye to eye.  And she talks to me like I am a five year old (maybe because I am a foreigner here ??) which p***es me off in fact!
Your allotment is so monumental TeeGee, cannot imagine how you could move it!! I am sure you will make something phenomenal in your backyard.  Ours is between the house and the chicken yard (lots of good chook poo!) so it's a lot easier working on it.
2012 - Snow in February, non-stop rain till July. Blight and rot are rife. Thieving voles cause strife. But first runner beans and lots of greens. Follow an English allotment in urban France: http://roos-and-camembert.blogspot.com

Digeroo

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Re: I have popped back agin to say hi!
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2017, 18:40:55 »
I do not like things in rows.  There was one allotment on our site which looked like the invading army from a star wars movie. 

I use dalek style compost bins I find they cover a multitude of sins.  Are they available over there? 


Tee Gee

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Re: I have popped back agin to say hi!
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2017, 19:22:40 »
Quote
Ha ha! No, she is retired, and she is there ALL the time,

Our secretary (a school teacher's assistant) is on her six weeks summer holidays so she is down everyday hence me only visiting the plot on a Monday & Friday morning. at the moment.

I have been on the site for nearly thirty years and she is my fifth secretary and she is always on the prowl which annoys me a bit.

All my previous Secretary's were always conspicuous by their absence which is as it should be if the site is working together, and it must be considering we have just won the "Best Allot" cup again this year (We have only lost it once in the past eight or nine years)

But the thing that frustrates me most of all about this nonsense is the fact that there are now more 'Female' plot holders than 'Male'and the secretary is getting up the noses of some of them simply because when a decision is required she passes the problem back to the person with the problem.

This is causing a bit of friction, (and in some cases bitchyness)

That does not trouble me!

My problem is: as the " father figure " on the plots the ladies fetch their problems to me and I offer advice where I can just to keep peace and harmony on the site.

But it would seem the Secretary does not like me getting involved, and to be quite honest I do not want to be involved but it its her mannerism and lack of assistance that seems to be the problem in the first place.

I have only had one spat with her and that was when I advised her that I was giving up a plot at the end of the year and that one of the other tenants wanted it.

So in the past such a situation would be discussed with the secretary then he / she would advise the Council Officer of the event then the paper work would be carried out.

Not this time she (our Secretary) said that we would have to contact the council officer ourselves.

It is this that makes my mind boggle as this is contrary to the duties of the Secretary.

The remit of a Secretary is to liaise between the Council and the Plot holder/s rather than dozens of plot holders plaguing the Officer.

This is another reason I keep out of the way.......it means when I do go I just get on with what is required and get off the site again.

Finally: There is a saying up here in Yorkshire and that is:

There is nout funnier than folk

Yes its true they are funny on our plots here but I am not laughing! :glasses9:

Why is it when  people who get a little 'authority' go power mad but are the first to run when there is " Trouble at'mill"



I'm sorry folks for all this winging but after 28 / 29 years on the plots I am finding it difficult to accept the present goings on....in the past a few of us would sit down for around half an hour and put the world to right after a session on the plots, now I can't get past G'morning G'bye with anyone.

Sad isn't it? :clock: :sad1:

ed dibbles

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Re: I have popped back agin to say hi!
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2017, 20:36:04 »
Quote
so she has constantly nagged me because I do not remove the green waste from my plot, but rather put it back into the ground

Quote
She says that in the allotment we should be 'surrounded by beauty'

It's typical of people who have a set view and want to impose that view on others to reassure themselves rather than accept that another view is viable. It shows their own insecurities.

I have a friend who is like that, who would like you to wear similar clothes or have the same gadgets not because they suit you or you need the gadgets but in order to console himself that his choices are good.

We have a recently installed allotment rep who, if she had her way would make the whole site an 'organic', heirloom varieties only growing area. Something she of course has no authority to insist on and no way to enforce. The site is in a small village eight miles from home. It is always looking for new tenants yet anyone interested in a plot often get "you can't plant this" or you can only plant that' or ' only this method of cultivation is permissible' putting barriers in the way before they even begin.

Isn't it a good job I take no notice and just do what I want on my plots, including the supposed thou shall and thou shall not 'rules', relying on the british "let's not cause a fuss' mentality. :happy7:



galina

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Re: I have popped back agin to say hi!
« Reply #7 on: August 17, 2017, 06:27:58 »
Nice to hear from you again and to read that you are happy and that your life if going in the right direction, Antipodes.  Don't be a stranger on A4A.  Happy for you :wave:

antipodes

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Re: I have popped back agin to say hi!
« Reply #8 on: August 17, 2017, 09:12:09 »

I use dalek style compost bins I find they cover a multitude of sins.  Are they available over there? 


I do have one and it's chockablock! But I found that creating mounds of compostable material between different crops helped keep in the moisture, stopped invasive weeds growing and after a couple of months, I just turn over the humus and can plant straight into the ground below.
I have tried to follow some of the precepts of permaculture, with more or less success. What is on the plot stays on the plot (except for some woody bits that compost too slowly). I use no fertilizer and no products at all. Sometimes crops do not work that well, sometimes they work very well (lovely toms this year!). I tend to let things go to seed to recover the seed. This is quite ugly but is part of the natural cycle. Yes I get some weeds, but the soil is very rich and the plot is filled with lizards, bees and butterflies.  Apparently the treasurer heard the site manager talking to some people interested in a plot and she was saying 'no permaculture though, it's not allowed'. What? All our chart says is that the plots must be kept cultivated and for personal use. 
The lady next to me had a pretty plot with flowers and herbs, some grassy patches, and veg not in rows. She was trying to grow organically for her children.  She too has left as she told me she was sick of the unpleasant comments made to her about her plot. A new guy took it over, pulled out all her herbs, flowers and shrubs and has planted about 80 cabbages and 100 lettuces.  I felt so sad when I saw that.
I don't tell other people how to grow their veg, even when I am appalled to see bare earth and all the water they pour on their plot. I bother no one and keep the edges of my plot mowed. To me, what I grow and how much I grow is my business.

It is sad that allotment sites sometimes degenerate into bitchiness etc, and it's usually someone wanting to push on other people their point of view.

Anyway, I will have to post some photos of my 'new' plot in the backyard!
2012 - Snow in February, non-stop rain till July. Blight and rot are rife. Thieving voles cause strife. But first runner beans and lots of greens. Follow an English allotment in urban France: http://roos-and-camembert.blogspot.com

Paulines7

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Re: I have popped back agin to say hi!
« Reply #9 on: August 17, 2017, 11:15:38 »
Welcome back Antipodes.  It's good to know that your life is now sorted and that you have found happiness with your new partner. 

Digeroo

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Re: I have popped back agin to say hi!
« Reply #10 on: August 17, 2017, 12:06:17 »
Various comments have made me realise how lucky I am.  I am on a private site run by a local farmer.  We have no committee.  He is a very benign dictator and we are left to do what we like.  Though some people like too many thistles for my taste. 
I have lots of weeds though I do like to get rid of what I call blowing weeds. Ie weeds whose seeds blow all over the place. 
I did have some issues with my plot neighbour who used to stand on my plot and dig a trench along the edge so there was a deep hole next to my plot and the soil washed off into it.  In the end he accused me of trampling on his onions.  Well I did not they naturally fall over!!!  So now he has put raspberries along beside my plot so I am much happier.  Hopefully the hole will gradually fill.  I now have a nice row of stinging nettles along the edge of my plot so he no longer walks across it,  and hopefully they will keep the soil in place.
But no one comes along and tells me how I should grow which is nice. 
I do not like to see bare soil.  I have put clover along beside a path with blackcurrant cuttings so the soil is covered.   So the only baresoil is where I am putting in some overwinter Wizard beans and the bed of spring green seedlings. 
But I do use lots of fertiliser as well as manure.  Blood fish and bone, pee, comfrey tea, nettle tea, and I got some growmore cheap in Aldi so that went on too.   And then there is manure. 

BarriedaleNick

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Re: I have popped back agin to say hi!
« Reply #11 on: August 17, 2017, 18:38:40 »
Nice to see you back here and nicer to see you enjoying your plot with your new partner and animals.

As a committee member myself (sec on a private site) we really go out of our way to not be in anyone's way.  We have as few rules as possible and try to keep out of everyone's hair - we let people garden their own way.  Of course there are disputes and arguments where we get involved but I cannot stand this attitude of "We know best".
Moved to Portugal - ain't going back!

Obelixx

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Re: I have popped back agin to say hi!
« Reply #12 on: August 17, 2017, 19:54:34 »
Glad to learn that things are going well and you are happy now.  I hope the kids are coping with the new situation too.    Great that the new chap is keen on gardening and growing to eat.  I can quite understand why your want to leave the new bossy boots behind but please do stay in touch on here.   We'd all love to share stories about crops and techniques.

We have been here in the Vendée since the beginning of October and have started making a potager - ground cleared and more or less levelled, compost bins and polytunnel built and the first of the raised beds but we're in the 13th month of drought and it's all far too dry to work really.   Nevertheless, we have plans for a fruit cage and more raised beds just as soon as I can get my mitts on a few lorryloads of well rotted horse poo to help prepare the soil and improve moisture retention.

We've been to Nantes a couple of times during Possum's visits in college hols and very much enjoyed ourselves.  Lovely town.   
Obxx - Vendée France

sunloving

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Re: I have popped back agin to say hi!
« Reply #13 on: August 22, 2017, 07:26:29 »
Antipodes lovely to hear your good news, how fab to find a gardening partner!
I just garden at home now to but I do have an acre! But I had only problems with men on site trying to patronise and dictate what I should be doing. I found women to be greener. I think it's just pot luck who you encounter.  As for moving stuff, I'm sure you will instinctively do the right thing keep things damp, maximise roots and minimise time out of the soil. Thing is what have you to lose by trying it? I've moved many things that the men above told me would die peonies, yew trees, asparagus. All of which survived. So just go for it so many plants can recover from massive biomass loss. Good luck with. Everything :) x sunloving

 

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