Spent most of today gazing at a fairly large allotment site from a hospital bed. I know this site of old and was puzzled to see that many of the plots now have tall posts surrounded with green fabric and all manner of other 'fencing'. What a shame the plotters feel it necessary to do this. Is this common on other sites? It seems so unfriendly.
I think you were seeing 'debris netting' (scaffolding net) put up to keep cabbage pests off of crops!
Where my sister had a plot, every one was fenced in, some with hedges, some quite high, unable to see over and they all had their own gates :)
Could they have a rabbit problem???
Most of our plots are fenced in by the plotholder. No rules state they cant be fenced off other than maximum height of 6ft and you must be able to see the plot from outside (for site inspection visits to ensure plots are not being used as building sites etc). It is the plotholders responsibility to maintain the fence in a good state of repair.
I have had to put up a netting fence to stop people walking across my plot and damaging the plants.
I have to put debris netting aroung my greenhouse to stop it being smashed.
Decided to take this action as I was nearly hit by a brick thrown by a passing school child - a few seconds later I would have been inside the greenhouse and would have been covered in glass :-[
On our lottie we have hedges around each individual plot...and yes they have to be kept maintained. But I would not have it any other way...hedges are good wind breaks..keep all but most persistant thieves away..gives privacy for me and home for numerous pest controller on wings ;D
I could not imagine having open plan lottie...but I can imagine if all manner of stuff is used as fencing it can look bit untidy..but then again It could give its own charm and character for the site :-\
we are open plan,and cant imagine it any other way,guess you are used to what you have always had.saying that,we have planted a screen of gladis,foxgloves,lupins and dahlia around the greenhouses/bench area for when we want to sit and read the papers without being heckled to get up and do some work! ;
No fences on our site......and if any were erected they would have to be proper fencing not old doors etc.
Fellow plot holders dont wander accross others so no need for it really.
All open plan on our site to and no sheds! >:(Think they are worried about people nailing a whole load of sh*t house doors together and it looking like a getto.
All our plots are open with sheds limited to 6x4 (although there are bigger ones) - one of the best things is being sociable with other people. Perhaps lucky a friendly bunch here.
Some fruit cages and lots of heath robinson contraptions on our site to keep the wildlife at bay.
Otherwise open plan ... fences, sheds, greenhouses and walk-in polytunnels all not allowed.
We don't have fences round plots on our site. I think we have a very friendly bunch of plotholders and being open-plan makes it easy to socialise.
I'm probably a bit strange, but I really like 'home-made' greenhouses and sheds. This one isn't mine, it's on a plot nearby.
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Last year arule came out that anything less than 2 year old had to come down. We put a 3ft wire netting at the front and back of ours 4 years ago to keep the dogs off that were not on the lead.We have wires up the sides with gooseberries and thorny blackberries on.
I liked the layout at Saddads allotment in Derby, they have hedges. Gives it a nice countryfied feel
A couple of years back we noticed that the chap on the plot next door had mowed all his paths and then had come onto our plot and had mowed half the length of each path so that it looked quite ridiculous and was scalped. As he wasnt there to speak to we put things on each path to prevent him doing the same.
A few weeks later he moved them and did the same, he has the name 'bullet' at the site as he tends to do something beligerent and run away.
When I next saw him and his wife I asked him to not mow our plot and to stop playing silly buggers, he denied he had done it and his wife became quite shirty. After a few minutes he apologised and said 'fair cop'. Everyone was happy.
Since then they have erected fences, debris netting, wicker fence panels the lot between us, she has refused to speak one word to us and to top it off her husband has been diagnosed with quite severe dymentia! They tell people its because they dont want us wandering onto their plot ???
A lot of the plots on our site have fences of some kind around them mainly as there is a rabbit problem on the site. I shall be putting up a fence on the side of mine that is open atm, assuming I can get hold of the materials cheap/free enough. On my previous plot I was forever finding human footprints over my beds as well as rabbit ones so I'm hoping a fence round this one will help keep people and vermin off it. It's not going to keep out the hardened vandal/thief as it'll be no more than 3 ft high, but I think it helps having well defined boundaries as a visual deterrent. Kind of like having a wall/fence on your front drive - doesn't stop people getting to your house...but stops passers-by wandering over the front edge of it :)
I saw a programe on allotments, they were going around the country seeing what was being grown, They had one in iner london, well honest it was a picture to behold flowers little hedges the sheds they would cook straight from the ground, drink tea together the community spirit was there all helping each other something you can not replace, honesty , kindness, they were all together in the one thing they loved Gardening i take my hat off to you allotmenters you work hard and have pride in your plots. I have a large garden so its only me and our staffy and she is so old now i have to help out of her basket just to go the toilet
I used to judge plots at a site in Cardiff a few years ago and they even had a social secretary. Apart from organising get togethers she used to organise daytrips and even foreign holidays. ;D
all 29 plots on the site are fenced, as we have a very bad rabbit promlem. no fence no crops !!