how many hrs per week do you need for allotment

[anniemazz]

Hiya, I was wondering how many hours a week you would need to spend on an allotment.  I had afriend who said she couldn't manage one alone with a full time job.  How many people do you think could reasonable manage a plot?  We have quite a few near by and I am thinking of taking ht plunge with my daughter - we both work full time (me shifts cos I am a nurse)
Cheers Annie :)

[anniemazz]

[cheddarpaul]

I have had my lottie for about 4 weeks. At the start I think I probably spent about 4 or 5hrs each Saturday and Sunday to get it in to some kind of order. I covered over about 1/3 of it for next year. Now I have some seeds planted I probably spend about 1.5hrs every other evening up there tinkering and tidying it up. I suppose I could spend more time up there but not sure what the benefit of that would be....

[redimp]

At the moment I could do with about 36 hours in every day and no job.  I am covered in weeds - have not got any weed control stuff as the capital investment with tools etc led to v. serious financial crisis over past two-three months.

[Svea]

my lottie is next door so i go there every evening on the way home to water and check. but i dont actually do anything during the week. it seems that every other weekend, i spend maybe 5 hours out there. and it's looks tidy, too :)

it seems to be slowing down now, that everything is planted and just needs to grow.
april and may were busy indoors with seeds and like i said, every other weekend for a whole day.

hope that helps
svea

[djbrenton]

A lot depends on how much of the area you've got planted and with what. Potatoes, for example, require very little work once they're in, but tomatoes in a greenhouse are time-consuming. Strangely, you can easily at this time of year find the non-productive areas take up more time than the beds as hoeing ibeds s faster than keeping weeds down on paths, strimming under trees, cutting hedges and clearing hedge bottoms. I've got 1800 sq yds and spend about 5 hrs a day, a lot of which is down to growing a wide variety of produce. You could quite easily have everything planted by now and only have to hoe at weekends and water the greenhouse daily. There are plenty of people on our site who only garden at weekends and manage very well.

[Robert_Brenchley]

A lot. I don't time it, but I spend as much time down there as I can manage and it's never enough. I do have a double size plot with hedges, mind; a normal one would be a lot more manageable.

[flowerlady]

As many hours as you are prepared to put in!

If the size of the plot gets to be too daunting, out with the old carpet / black poly and reduce the size for a while.

Don't let it become a chore - that takes away all the fun of having a lottie!

Ha! hark at me, here I am giving out advice and I have all of it to come on my plot - 3 foot under in weeds!!  Think I need to go to bed.

Have fun!  ;)

[westsussexlottie]

We spend about 5 person hours a week on ours.
It is very weedy and we could do with more time, but we are managing to get crops out of it - which after all - is the aim!

[Justy]

At this time of year I try to go down a couple of evenings in the week to do a bit and then a couple of hours on a weekend.

Ask if you can have a half plot or even less.   I know that our council sites were trying to encourage people to take them on by offering 'weekend' plots which were small enough to be looked after in a weekend.  It depends whether there is huge demand in your area i guess.  Some areas there are big waiting lists.  Round here there are plots sitting empty.

Also if you can afford to spend a bit of cash and say put down weed supressing membrane with gravel on top (or even just black plastic)  to cover paths and uncultivated bits that will also cut down on your maintenance time.

[moonbells]

I agree with the previous posters. It really is as much time as you're prepared to spend.  I must say that there is a bottom line, especially when you're first clearing one.  You have to keep on top of the weeds or you end up clearing one end and having to go back and clear the start again.

Once you're in control (!) then you are looking at about 5-6 hours a week, which can be difficult.  Don't underestimate how long it takes to water stuff either! Fastest I can do mine (which is about 2/3 plot of veg, the rest fruit which doesn't get watered) is about 40 mins if I have to fetch and carry from the standpipes.  (about 10 mins less if I have full waterbutts!)

moonbells

[RSJK]

I spend most of my spare time on the allotment, mind you I really am in love with gardening I find myself at peace with the world when I'm on the lottie.
 
               :D :D

[Rose.mary]

Richard
I spend 5 days on my plot (weather permitting) sometimes not coming home until 8 or 9 o'clock.I am retired so I just love to potter about, talk to neighbours and so on, but I did get a bit of a shock the other day when one of the younger women on the site told me "to get a life" I thought I had a good one ;D ;D.

Rosemary

[Merlins Mum]

I find myself at peace with the world when I'm on the lottie.
 
               :D :D

Me too, it's just wonderful. 

but how much time anniemazz, well it does depend on how big your plot is to start with.  although there is an average size which I think is about 100ft by 25ft, all the council plots where I am are much smaller, some only a quarter of that and yet they are called plots not half plots.  and also what sort of condition it is in when you take it on.  but I agree do a little at a time and cover what you can't tackle and enjoy it, that's the most important thing, enjoy  :)
MM

[clairenpaul]

We're with Redclanger on this one - we'll have to campaign for more hours in the day  ;D. We've only had our plot a few months and from talking to others I'd say that you need lots of time at the start to get on top of the weeds - recommend lots of black plastic/old carpet etc or the weeds soon catch you up. We spend a couple of hours 2/3  times during the week and again 2/3 hours Saturdays and Sundays and we are making progress (still not eaten anything from the plot yet tho - but hopefully won't be long). The problem ( ???) is that everyones so friendly we spend about half our time there chatting instead of working.

If you are keen give it a try, even if you haven't got lots of time you'll get there in the end  :)

[Gillian]

I took on a half plot at the warden's recommendation. He was right a full plot would have been far too big for me and I would have ended up with far too many vegetables for just myself and my husband.
I have a full time job and my plot is a 5 min drive away. I spend around 3-4 hours there on a Sat and probably 2-3 hours on a Sunday. I also go up there around 2 or 3 nights a week just for a quick reccie, watering, weeding, sighing, smiling etc. takes about 30mins.

And everything is hunky-dorey. I seem to be able to keep on top of things that way.

[redimp]

Today is an example of why teaching and lottying are not always compatible.  Today I have finished off marking of assessments and have started writing reports.  Thus no lottying - am going to try and get up for a couple of hours now though.  Tomorrow, I will need to plan nexte weeks Literacy and Numeracy before I can go up.  And somewhere in there I will have to mark their books.  However, it should all get a little easier after this weekend - how many times have I said that before?

[Merry Tiller]

plan nexte weeks Literacy

You teach literacy? ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

I have the same problem this time of year; I get totally tied up marking GCSE papers. The first year I did it, the whole plot was waist deep in weeds by the time I'd finished, and my enemies on the site were going round telling people that I 'seemed to be giving up'. They were sadly disappointed! I've got it a bit more organised now, but the plot will still be looking somewhat neglected by the time I'm done.

[redimp]

plan nexte weeks Literacy

You teach literacy? ;D

;D I do type fast so one typo ain't bad.

[Merry Tiller]

Sorry, only pulling your leg, I'm really missing the spell checker