OK a little background info, I have been wanting an allotment over two years now and my councils has quite few sites but with really long waiting lists :( of which I'm on a couple.
Late spring I found out there was one not 15 minutes away if you are walking from my home, it was so tucked away I never knew it was there. When I contacted the council about it I was told that it was rented out to a Society and as such they no longer had direct control of it and to their knowledge there were no plots available, when I asked for the Society's contact details, none was forth coming.
Today I was in the area so decided to take a little wander down there to see if there was anyone working any of the plots who could give me some contact details.
There was no one there but there was some contact details on a notice board, I called and left a message.
A lovely lady by the name of Helen just called to say not only are there plots (individual and community type ones) but that they don't do waiting lists, can you hear me singing HALLELUJAH!!!!
She says she is there every Wednesday and Saturday morning and I'm welcome to come and have a chat, can you see me grinning from ear to ear like a Cheshire cat :)
So fingers and anything else you can cross I'll be a proud plot owner by the weekend.
Thats lovely news. Am really pleased for you
You certainly could, and I'm sure that you will be! Fingers, and everything else, crossed!
ooh fingers and everything else crossed for you
Hooray! So you'll be queuing at the gate from first light tomorrow then? ;)
Good luck from me too :)
thats brilliant,ooohhh good luck!
wonder what they do instead of waiting lists then?
I'd love to be part of a community plot instead of slogging on on my own. Can you tell I had a disheartening day at mine today? ;D
Oooh, sounds promising; I'd be camped at the gates. Good luck!
:) great news /good luck
Well done :) Hope it all goes well.
Sounds great Rekella... :)
Nice one Thif, as you can see everyones proper made up for you, I can just see this Helens face when she turns up and your sitting up in your sleeping bag holding on to your Thermo flask of tea propped up against the gates. :o ;D ;D ;D
Oh i have been walking around this evening with a permanent grin plastered on my face, and my OH keeps ::) at the heavens, i think he thinks I'm really sad, oh and he keep muttering about all the extra work he'll be now doing, tut it was myself and my mum who got the garden where it is :-\. not that I'll not ask him to help me out if i need it ;).
Quote from: cornykev on September 01, 2009, 20:25:59
Nice one Thif, as you can see everyones proper made up for you, I can just see this Helens face when she turns up and your sitting up in your sleeping bag holding on to your Thermo flask of tea propped up against the gates. :o ;D ;D ;D
;D ;D I won't have to camp out thankfully as she'll be there from 10am to 13.00 so more than enough time to get the kids fed and dressed before we walk down there. gosh i can't remember when last i felt this excited.
(http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk187/thifasmom/smilies/jumping.gif)
;D
there will be a lot of gutted people here if ya dont get it!
i doubt your lady would get your hopes up if it wasnt feasible,i know i wouldnt
x
I'm sure the allotment is yours Thifasmom as you know a lot about growing and are very committed and this is usually all the person who gives out plots wants to know.
So go grow those scotch bonnets girl! ;D
Quote from: elvis2003 on September 01, 2009, 21:15:04
;D
there will be a lot of gutted people here if ya dont get it!
i doubt your lady would get your hopes up if it wasnt feasible,i know i wouldnt
x
gutted wouldn't describe how i would feel if i didn't get it :-\.
Quote from: Ishard on September 01, 2009, 21:27:04
I'm sure the allotment is yours Thifasmom as you know a lot about growing and are very committed and this is usually all the person who gives out plots wants to know.
So go grow those scotch bonnets girl! ;D
i do hope i make the grade.
thanks everyone for all your well wishes, there are very few places i could share this info with all my excitement bubbling and without the listener/s thinking i've gone made or that i'm pathetic.
Fingers & toes crossed , Oh & of course me legs ;D ;D ;D
Good luck tons of it for you . ;D
Daft thing is, despite the shortage of allotments in Maidstone, the council turned over an enormous site, down in Fant, to become a wilderness wildlife sanctuary, id est a six acre sprawl of brambles.
I wonder if councils will ever pull their fingers out and get around to providing the plots they are obliged to provide. In the meanwhile I am genuinly considering buyimng some land and renting it out as allotments.
Great news ! I'm grinning from ear to ear for you too :)
Thifasmom
Just caught up with this thread - and I'm really excited now as well ::) ;D
FINGERS CROSSED FOR YOU TODAY
1066
Oooh Thifasmom, wonderful news, keeping everything crossed for you. :)
T.
Thankfully i had a good night sleep because this morning i am super nervous, my cereal taste like cardboard, and my tummy is so knotted I'm finding it hard to eat my breakfast anyway.
(http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk187/thifasmom/smilies/worried.gif) gosh I'm so wound up, i just hope I don't come across like a blithering idiot.
anyway off to feed the kids and then we'll leave in a hour and hopefully we will have a dry walk there cause it looks like it might be a wet morning.
Good luck! Don't stress, your interest and enthusiasm for growing will get you through just fine.
(http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh131/jazzbyrd/worried-woman.jpg)
Duke
Thifasmom - if you turn up and its raining they'll definitely know you are keen and for real!
Duke - ROFL ;D
thanks again for the well wishes guys, i'm off now, will update laters.
so excited for you ;D Hope today goes well for you xxx
Don't forget to post when you get back. Good luck, hope all goes well and all your dreams come true. Thinking of you.
get fingers and everything else crossed here... :o
Tied in a knot here waiting for the good news !!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok i guess she is busy digging her new plot ;D
yep,prob,either that or chatting to everyone ;D
wish she would hurry up and let us know ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Message from Dukes other half ~ Unfortunately she waited a bit too long to hear some news about Thifasmoms plot!
(http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh131/jazzbyrd/im-still-waiting.jpg)
Do you think I can uncross my fingers yet :P ;D
Quote from: Duke Ellington on September 02, 2009, 14:36:03
Message from Dukes other half ~ Unfortunately she waited a bit too long to hear some news about Thifasmoms plot!
(http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh131/jazzbyrd/im-still-waiting.jpg)
;D DUKE!!!
Starting to fade away here myself :-\
Thifasmom - what's the outcome??? This is like waiting to be told you can open that Christmas present you spotted under the tree that you know is the one you have been wanting really badly. C'mon open the pressie........ I just know you've got it ....... ;D ;D ;D
twinkletoes
Just logged on and saw this thread now I'm the most impatient can't wait to hear and I've only known about it 2 minutes!!!!!!!!
anyone got her number??
;D
my eyes won't come uncrossed ;D
Ooooh, the suspense....... ;)
Do hope the outcome is good for you T'smom. :)
T.x
you lot are to sweet :D
ok uncross whatever you crossed and Duke for goodness sake go bury that bag of bones ;D
be warned the good news is told as a really long story so a cup of tea and your favourite biccy might be in order :-[ :)
(http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk187/thifasmom/the%20allotment/allotmentsitemap.jpg)
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=51.253777,0.5412&spn=0.001518,0.003428&t=h&z=18&msid=108819690269526479278.00047297523e0a6bd01b4 (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=51.253777,0.5412&spn=0.001518,0.003428&t=h&z=18&msid=108819690269526479278.00047297523e0a6bd01b4) if you click this link, then click the blue icon and keep clicking the zoom here button till you can see the customised coloured map of the site. Scrolling over each separate colour explains how the site has been divided.
Well what can I say, I have decided to take a plot but.....................
A little history on the plot, it's triangular and up until five years ago it was completely overgrown following 25yrs of neglect (the yellow section has been rented out to the home owners that border onto it for quite a number of years. A couple who I believed lived in one of the house on its borders contacted the council five years ago to run and bring some of the site (the lower fatter end of the triangle) back into use.
The couple it seems shared the site with at least two other tenants and was slowly getting others interested hence the community type plot. The couple recently moved away and one of the other tenants now have their very well loved plot all to himself which is the blue section, he pays the council directly. The red section is for a father and son team whom I'm led to believe was also on the site for a long time. The community plots is the pink section and is now being split down into 'very' small individual plots between approx 8 people (including myself). I some how gather there might have been a bit of political battling when the couple moved out of the area although nothing was said directly.
Helen who I met today is now technically in charge of the red and pink bit, the total rent for that section is £50.00 which she pays to the council. All the potential plot holidaers of the pink and red section will give her money's towards this cost once a year, she has not yet worked out how much every one will be paying or when. On asking I was told she was sort of volunteered for the post by everyone and is learning as she goes on how to a manage a site, there is no paper work and no committee, no policies, no guidance really except that the plot is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays 10.00am to 1.00pm, when the key holders are there. I have already said I would like a key as I would really like to put in 2 - 3hrs of work at least 3 - 5days a week over the next two months before the really cold weather sets in.
At the moment they are in the process of clearing the pink and red section of all the crops that needs harvesting so that the individual plots can be marked out properly. I'll be joining them next Wednesday to help as the quicker I help now the quicker I could get my section and get it ready for planting next year.
There is no water on the site but one of the home owners whose boundary butts up with the site's boundary kindly makes one of his taps available to the site when in use, so a few water butts are a definite necessity.
My possible plot size I believe maybe approx 30ft x 20ft, no where what I hoped for but should allow me to grow the things I desperately would like to grow for storage, such as spuds, carrots, beetroot, some squash and pumpkins, and a few more things. I can see right now that I would have to be very inventive on how I plan to grow there at the site and a lot of what I am already growing at home will stay at home more for convenience and to make space at the plot.
As the plot will be small I'll dispense with raise beds but may still use pallet wood to mark out and contain the soil in the growing spots. The overall soil on the site is a yummy colour and the there is evidence that a lot of manure was ploughed into the site up until recently. The veg I saw them clearing out today were huge and quite impressive, so the soil is very fertile from what I can see. There is a plot shed for people to shelter from the elements and it already has communal tools for the site users to use.
Security is good and vandalism has not been much of an issue in the pass, when it has reared its ugly head the local community police has dealt with it swiftly and efficiently. It helps that is so over looked by home owners as they have a tendency to keep an eye out.
I was a little disappointed that I was not shown a spot and told that's yours but the quicker I get stuck in and help them the quicker I will get my own. So that's it really, I'm finally an Allotment Gardener.
Congratulations Thifasmom ...... it is a start so well done. I take it the homeowner is not on a water
meter then ;D ;D ;D
twinkletoes
congratulations ;D ;D ;D
"So that's it really, I'm finally an Allotment Gardener."
CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES ....... COME ON ......
congratulations
Excellent news. ;D
Quote from: twinkletoes on September 02, 2009, 15:54:52
Congratulations Thifasmom ...... it is a start so well done. I take it the homeowner is not on a water
meter then ;D ;D ;D
twinkletoes
:) same thing i asked and nope no meter :D.
thanks everyone for your well wishes and for the congrates. roll on next wednesday when i can get a fork stuck in.
Sorry it is not quite what you wanted but at least is is a good start. Presume you will keep you name on some more waiting lists. In the meantime enjoy. It sounds like at least there will be a good community spirit. Suggest if you have a lack of horizontal space then use the vertical.
Excellent... :)
Well done! xx
At least you are on your way to having an allotment
Quote from: Digeroo on September 02, 2009, 16:24:07
Sorry it is not quite what you wanted but at least is is a good start. Presume you will keep you name on some more waiting lists. In the meantime enjoy. It sounds like at least there will be a good community spirit. Suggest if you have a lack of horizontal space then use the vertical.
yes plan to leave myself on the waiting list I'm already on but yes the community spirit here seems on first glance very positive, so that is always a bonus.
yep horizontal is my plan for the curcubits for sure.
the disappointment didn't last long as the site has a lot of potential, the site manager like i said has next to no experience and i think is very open to new ideas. she also said that the majority of growers are also very new to growing as is she (met her today digging monster parsnips out, i told her they would be even better if they got frosted, so she decided to leave the rest of the row in) so hopefully i would be an asset to their cause, oops our cause :D.
HURRAY I 've been waiting allday :)
I bet by this time next year you'll have forgotten all your misgivings and be growing ,growing and growing :)
Great news!! :)
Duke
Congratulations! This sounds like it could have potential!
Well done, I am really pleased for you. Bet your head will be full of ideas now, it's so exciting.... will be thinking of you next Wednesday. :)
T.x
Quote from: 1066 on September 02, 2009, 15:55:45
"So that's it really, I'm finally an Allotment Gardener."
CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES ....... COME ON ......
sounds kool and the gang!!
go girl go fingers and legs and toes crossed here for you ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Quote from: tonybloke on September 02, 2009, 18:37:56
Quote from: 1066 on September 02, 2009, 15:55:45
"So that’s it really, I’m finally an Allotment Gardener."
CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES ....... COME ON ......
sounds kool and the gang!!
Maybe a bit naff I know, but true ;D 8)
Congratulations, Rekella! 8) 30' x 20', near home, shed to shelter in, water, great soil, whole host of new friends......for a beginning I reckon it's the BEST ;D
Tell us tomorrow how the work day went - and tell us with pics, eh? Enjoy your weekend,
Lishka X
Thanks Lish,
i won't have any news till next wednesday as the girls have tomorrow fully booked for me :-\.
My first working visit http://kellasvegeplotandothermusings.blogspot.com/2009/09/first-allotment-visit-and-other-stuff.html (http://kellasvegeplotandothermusings.blogspot.com/2009/09/first-allotment-visit-and-other-stuff.html)
your blog is great. Thanks
:) hope it went well, your blog always sends my pc crazy... happy bug hunting ;D/ shades x
Quote from: Rhubarb Thrasher on September 09, 2009, 22:02:03
your blog is great. Thanks
no, thank you Rhubarb Thrasher :D
Quote from: angle shades on September 09, 2009, 22:08:20
:) hope it went well, your blog always sends my pc crazy... happy bug hunting ;D/ shades x
i am so sorry about that :-[, i have scanned and scanned with no joy. it hasn't happened to me for ages and like you when it does happen it is very specific to a particular blog/ two :-\.
congrats on the new allotment.
What a first day you had. Well Done.
So the digging has begun! It sounds like it was a great start to your new venture :D
Thanks cjb02.
Shirl thanks for commenting on the blog.
1066 yep the digging has begun but not on my stretch as yet. i did some more today and got a bag of potatoes and beetroots for my efforts :).
that sounds like a good haul and the main work has yet to start ;D
just a quick update on where i've got too:
http://kellasvegeplotandothermusings.blogspot.com/2009/09/ive-made-it.html (http://kellasvegeplotandothermusings.blogspot.com/2009/09/ive-made-it.html)
http://kellasvegeplotandothermusings.blogspot.com/2009/09/knackered.html (http://kellasvegeplotandothermusings.blogspot.com/2009/09/knackered.html)
the plan was to get there today to start digging out the nettle roots and other perinneal weeds but the eldest offspring is home with the cold today and as such i may have to go much later than planned or leave it for another day, will just have to see how the day pans out.