Allotments.......To get or not to get.....

Dragon_Lady_3

Hi everyone,

Have started growing a few veggies and salad stuff this year and they are coming on very nicely. A friend of mine is also doing the same by coincidence.

We had a birthday get together yesterday and started talking about veggies etc., and how much money we spend on them. We both have 3 kids each, so in each family there are five people.

I suggested [jokingly at first] that maybe we should consider getting an allotment between us, because feeding 10 people is not cheap. The more we spoke about it the more we liked the idea. Even if the OH's thought we were mad.

Anyway, what I would like to know is..... Do any of you work full time and manage an allotment? If we do get one [got to phone the council tomorrow to find out. We know there are some available about 1 mile away], what is the first thing we do with it?

I know these are strange questions, but we don't want to take on something that we cannot manage and let it go to waste, if someone else can.

BTW her dad has got a rotavator so thats a bonus

What do you do about watering it?

Too many questions, not enough time

Hope some of you green fingered peeps out there can help :beer:

emmaroids

yes you can work full time and look after an allotment, some of the guys on mine will work on it all day but i do a few hours on a night and a bit at the weekend and mine is kept nice and tidy( albiet not as tidy as theres)
and if your sharing with someone you half the cost of seeds etc.
go for it you will save money in the long run and you will be eating the best veg ever (homegrown)

Dragon_Lady_3

Hi emmeroids, [love the name btw]

I used to grow some veggies in the garden, potatoes, onions, beans etc., so I know what I am missing. The taste is the best. But we no longer have the room due to workshop and shed.

We did discuss the benefits of sharing the costs etc.,

I will phone her this evening and have another talk about it. Because it will have to be an equal share in the work etc., as well as the end result.

Its just that we BOTH work full time and don't always have time to go every evening. She works Monday and Thursday eve's as well as during the day and some nights I don't get home till 8. Would this be a problem if some nights no one gets there?.

Wouldn't want to kill the babies from neglect :rolleyes:

emmaroids

depending on what sort of state its in when you get it you may have to do some hard graft getting it in order.
but once its in order you dont have to tend to it every night, as for watering, once a week is fine imo in dry weather.

Tam_Lin

We took on a huge overgrown plot with a couple of friends for £30/year (3 of us work fulltime). It was quite daunting when we first saw it - weeds and brambles up to our chins. But we paid one of the ladies £3 to strim the soft stuff down, and just tackled it bit by bit.

It's one of the most satisfying things I've ever done. Eating our potatoes last year that we'd grown was just fabulous, and we've currently got 25 or so different things growing. I keep a general tally of who's spent what and even it out. My friend goes a couple of mornings before work to do watering and weeding, I go one evening a week, and we all spend most of each weekend down there weather permitting.

I'd say go for it. Do it bit by bit, and cover each patch in tarpaulin or old carpet until you're ready to plant stuff. Just don't try to do it all at once. It's taken a year or so to get ours 80% dug, and there's still one corner full of junk.

kethry

There's a book around, called "The Half-Hour allotment" by Lia Leendertz... the idea is that you set up the allotment so that you only spend half an hour a day (five days a week) there, whether that's morning or evening. Between you you could probably manage that i think. I know the libraries have them, its well worth a good read, before you make your final decision.

In addition, you can set up grassy areas on your allotment, and kids play areas, so that - in summer evenings - you can take your families down, do BBQs (if the rules allow it), and generally relax there.

Hope that helps!!

keth
xx

GreenPete

Go for it, I work full time and loose 10 hours a week traveling to work. I have two allotments and manage them OK. One is mine and one I look after for someone else, both were overgrown with brambles etc but in time you can get them cleared.
For the price of a couple of drinks in the pub you can have an allotment for a year. With water they often have it laid on and add extra to the rent for it our is only £3 a year.
Even if you only use a part of it for growing it's still good value. As well as fresh veg, you'll get the fresh air, sunshine and exercise.

Dragon_Lady_3

kethry, thanks for that, all I've got to do now is try and find the time to get to the library

Everybody else. Many, many thanks I think you have convinced me it will work out alright. :T

Quite looking forward to pottering [read that as slaving if it's one that no-ones touched in years :eek: ] in the long summer evenings.

Any more advice? Keep it coming.

p.s. just realised, I gave a load of veggie growing books away on freecycle 2 months ago!!! DOH!!