Hi all,
This is probably going to sound really silly but, I'm waiting for an allotment and am hopefull I will get one before winter this year, the waiting list I am on is very short.
Now my question is, If I turn up to my new allotment with my border fork and spade which are not really big enough to the job but very well broken in from years of work at home am I going to be taken more seriously by the other allotmenteers than if I arrive with bigger brand new tools.
I am worried that, as I am 27 with 2 young children one only 8 months old, I will look like one of these people who have seen a television programme and think it'seasy and they know it all.
or will my hard work and experience as a gardener shine through and override first impressions.
don't I sound silly, I just worry because I never fit in anywhere because I am a bit old fashioned for my age.
Vicki
I'm a beefy bloke and I much prefer to use a small fork, and I never use a spade at all if I can help it
old tools are good - there's less chance they'll get pinched
i wouldnt judge you by the size of your tools its the time and effort that makes the difference. I have seen people come on plots with shiny new tools and then give up after a few months. its not the tools its the time and effort that make the most difference in my mind. I think that you should use the tools that you are used to handling, they may take a wee bit longer but you will have the time by the sounds of it. If you go out a buy a bigger set they will also be heavier to use so there may be no advantage but they will be stronger and made for the task at hand ;)
Yes I think you are both right, I also prefer my fork but this is one of those times when digging is necessary. It may take longer with smaller tools but like you said I will have time and I know it will be worth the effort.
Agree - old tools are best. (My spade was a present from my father. I'm not sure when, but he's been dead more than 30 years. You could carve the Sunday roast with it.)
Get in there, Vicki, and get digging! Autumn/early winter is a good time to start on a new plot. Get as much dug as you can ready for spring.
I've got a ladies spade and a small watering can, and a lightweight plastic wheelbarrow. I have to do more trips, but I don't want to get a frozen shoulder again. Start off with the tools you have, and then if you wish buy more. Allotment people are different from normal people, much nicer, not materialistic and you will make many friends and have a lovely time. Also you can wear old clothes and get dirty hands, but who cares. Don't worry about fitting in, just get gardening and you can spend hours talking to people (if you wish) about vegs and soil and the things that other people's eyes glaze over when one goes on and on.
Thats so nice - I'm already always covered in dirt of some description usually soil from the garden but if not then definately baby sick. I'm on of these people who save old clothes in the garage just for doing the garden - maybe I will fit in then.
Other allotmenteers will probably take you much more seriously if you show up in old clothes with old tools and get stuck in!
Don't worry about first impressions or being old fashioned as I reckon neither of these count for much on allotments.
Just be yourself, say hello and I'm sure that you'll soon feel at home and among friends!
There is a certain romance about old tools but when I did a gardening round I bought the best new tools I could afford and I am so glad I did,the new tools suited my height and made the job so much easier than to what I was used to.
I used to have this tiny little fork that my ma in law gave me ,years and years old,because of this I insisted on using it and boy had I made life hard for myself ;D
Quote from: Trevor_D on July 12, 2010, 10:52:54
Agree - old tools are best. (My spade was a present from my father. I'm not sure when, but he's been dead more than 30 years. You could carve the Sunday roast with it.)
Get in there, Vicki, and get digging! Autumn/early winter is a good time to start on a new plot. Get as much dug as you can ready for spring.
Old tools tend to be better because there usualy made of better quality steel than the rubbish they make tools from these days.
I do a lot of woodwork as another hobby, basically i make bits of furniture, such as Welsh Dresser, usually one a year. I have new tools and old tools. My favorite wood chisels i use are my dads, and they are stamped "WD 1945" (War Department). You grind and hone an edge on them, and you can feel they are hard as glass. They then keep that edge, razor sharp, for months. The new chisels (Drapers) lose there edge after a coupel of hours use. Same with my hand planes, some of them are WW1, and the steel the blades are made of is the finest carbon steel you have ever used.
A lot of tools made in the 50's and 60's were made from recovered armour plate from tanks and warships. Its epic stuff. Today, most tool steel is cast and rolled in China, and they are rubbish at it, and its not fit to make dustbins out of.
I have three forks for the lotty. Two modern ones, and one that is worn smooth on the edges, and ive turned a special long ash handle for it to get leverage (44" long ). I tried it with a new head at first, you could get so much leverage you could bend the tines. I had to find a good pre WW2 fork that could take it in the end. Again, old steel is far better.
As I have arthritis all over, I can only use small tools and mine were second hand when I got them, plus, I look rather like a bag lady when on the plot ;D
I like old tools, but the best of all is a fork I picked up in the market for a fiver. It's solid steel, quite heavy, and doubles up as a crowbar.
I would use whatever you are comfortable with and to heck with anyone else, I cannot imagine anyone worthwhile judging you by your tools, You wll find allsorts on a lottie, you will figure out pretty quick who to listen to and who to humour. I found some really odd old fellas on ours that had not changed in decades but they turned out to be pretty decent old fellas, and yes I found a couple who screwed op their face at a woman.. but they came round.
Just you go and be yourself, enjoy your lottie with you kids.
Oh and if I saw old tools I would feel kind good about that person,, there I am judging!!
XX Jeannine
Wouldn't worry about what tools you use, you'll be more judged far more on your plot and what you achieve there. I kind of expect old fashioned looks as I don't exactly blend in to the background in any setting (bright red hair!), plus I really don't care what I wear or how grubby I get. Can't resist a nice useful tool though, have quite a few old favourites that are well used and grubby, but like my shiny new stainless steel spade and fork as well. My azada raised a few eyebrows when I first used it, but no-one bats an eyelid now...they must have got used to me! ;D
Quote from: vicki.m on July 12, 2010, 10:21:09
Hi all,
This is probably going to sound really silly but, I'm waiting for an allotment and am hopefull I will get one before winter this year, the waiting list I am on is very short.
Now my question is, If I turn up to my new allotment with my border fork and spade which are not really big enough to the job but very well broken in from years of work at home am I going to be taken more seriously by the other allotmenteers than if I arrive with bigger brand new tools.
I am worried that, as I am 27 with 2 young children one only 8 months old, I will look like one of these people who have seen a television programme and think it'seasy and they know it all.
or will my hard work and experience as a gardener shine through and override first impressions.
don't I sound silly, I just worry because I never fit in anywhere because I am a bit old fashioned for my age.
Vicki
When i got my allotment a year ago i was 24 with a newborn and an 16 month old, wearing scraggly old trousers and horrible top's (all of which are now my "allotment clothes" and have holes everywhere!!) and yes i got some funny looks (all new tools as i didnt even have a garden before hand) and i'm sure i still do (with kids toys spread across the plot) BUT the point is i dont really care, i've already completed my first year and am still there working and harvesting and keeping chickens :)
dont worry what people think about you the way to change the perspective is to love and work your plot :)
Welcome to A4A vicki.
I don't think you should worry about what anyone else thinks of you. You've as much right as anyone to an allotment. Do your own thing and enjoy it, and likely as not you'll find the people on your site friendly and welcoming.
Wow, what a lot of replies.
Thank you all, I think I'll soon be taken seriously if all your opinions are anything to go by.
I really can't wait, I've wanted an allotment for years, my great gran used to grow all our veg when I was a little girl and I was always asking her how to do this and that. I can't grow a huge range of veg at home as I only have small garden with one bed so I have to grow different things each year plus what I grow in the greenhouse. It will be great to have a bit of everything at the same time. I can't believe how soon it's come about I was expecting a much longer wait.
Wanting an allotment is the easy part.............. ;D
Hope you get your allotment soon, and don't forget to tell us how you are getting on. Allotments, and seeds can become addictive, so beware, you will want to spend every free hour up there and looking at seed packets or chatting on here. ;D ;D Shall I hoover or go and water the allotment, something may have grown in the night, I think I know the answer.
lucky for me the allotments are just a little futher on from my sons school, so I plan on having mornings up there as often as I need, everyday while i'm clearing it i imagine, then housework after lunch.
my hubby is worried about what will happen to our beautifully tended garden though. He's not the green fingured sort.
Quote from: vicki.m on July 13, 2010, 16:13:02
lucky for me the allotments are just a little futher on from my sons school, so I plan on having mornings up there as often as I need, everyday while i'm clearing it i imagine, then housework after lunch.
my hubby is worried about what will happen to our beautifully tended garden though. He's not the green fingured sort.
Before i got a lotty i spent 8 years developing a Song Dynasty period Japanese woodland garden with a Tea House, its practically maintenance free, no lawn for a start..........just cut the hedge once or twice a year.......
Sounds Lovely, I've ordered bare root native hedgerow plants for delivery in november to put where I've always grown veg. That should look after itself apart from pruning, it'll take a couple of days to plant though I think.
I have to have a lawn, my son is football mad and if he didn't have a 'pitch' outside he'd be playing in the house.
It would never have occurred to me to judge someone by the age of the tools they were using,just seems such an odd concept ???
your probably right betula, but i'm a born worrier.
Quote from: vicki.m on July 13, 2010, 19:16:20
your probably right betula, but i'm a born worrier.
worrier or warrior ?
maybe a bit of both lol
What does it matter what they think of you? If you turn up with new tools because you think they're the right tools, then even if you look like more of a newbie at firs than someone turning up with well-worn tools, the other plotholders will soon see from what you actually do that you're serious about working your plot.
Maybe it would do any judgy plotholders good to see their prejudices against younger generations with new forks, who may have (shock horror! ;)) seen a TV programme, turned upside down! If the only people who took on allotments were people who knew 100% from day one that they'd stick to it for life, then a lot of people happily working plots today might never have got started. There's nothing wrong with turning up with shiny tools so long as you back it up with the work!
They won't be shiny long if you're serious about the plot! The important thing is to get tools that do what you need without breaking.
Grow something wierd or big at the front of the plot... for me it was Kelsae and Catawissa onions.... with a bit of care Kelsae's get huge (so you become someone who obviously knows how to grow onions) and Catawissa's are the biggest of the tree onions, multiple decks oif topsetting bulbils up to 5 feet tall if well staked..... mad as a box of frogs.... I took on my plot in March, by July I had septugenarians from the far side of what is a big site visiting to look at the onions.....
there's less chance they'll get pinched
Thanks all, I'm glad to say my problem has been solved, my father in law, who has had to retire from professional gardening due to ill health has said I can have whatever I want from his tool shed, lucky me the best of both worlds and no cost.