Allotment - which plot and what to do first

Rummer

Sounds as if you know what you are doing, let us know what decisions you make and pics would be grand:D

[Deleted User]

I am on a private allotment, roughly 30x3m. 2/3 was grass pasture with lots of bindweek and couch grass and rest was pre-owned but neglected. Both were roughly equivalent but I know the rotations exactly for the grassland part. Pre owned could bring its own problems, onion rot is but one. I pay £36 a year and water is handy. £250 pa is not a lot for a leisure hobby but if purely for products then it is v expensive

ours is owned by a greenie landowner so is altruistic

we get enough veg and soft fruit for the whole year for 2 of us and we also use space for small shed, composts etc. I would pay £250 if there was no other option and if I had time to spare

Yorkie1

£250 is exorbitant!

However, if both are the same price, and have similar facilities, and there's no other alternative, I'd go for the one which has previously been worked.

If the greenfield one presently has grassland on it, you're going to be fighting pests such as wireworms for the first few years (they love spuds ... ).

the_worm

I've received my bill for this year's rent 39 pounds Inc water.that's a half plot council run...

ally18

Wow, £250 :eek:. I didn't realise there was such a huge price difference over the country.

I've just started on my new allotment, a half sized council plot with my own tap £13 pa. I think I am very lucky.

My dad has an allotment under a different council to me and he pays £65 for a full enclosed plot.

Have fun whichever you decide on, it is very addictive!

Orange_King

My only other option would be moving house I think just to get a bigger garden and most plaes in our budget wouldn't have half the garden I have at present!

So, I think I'd rather put up with £250 or thereabouts a year. More lawn being dug up in the meantime.

wellused

Orange king I'm interested in the type of person who will pay £250 for an allotment plot are these working class people, or are they middle class teachers and the like, or a mixture of the two? I only ask because most people on my site who work can't spare the time to garden more than a few hours a week and really struggle to cultivate their entire plot. Some plots lay half used for years before they ever get on top of the job, some plot holders stick crops into the ground and seem to leave them to die or run to seed or maybe never harvest them. Myself I am able to work on my plot for at least two days a week and even on days when I can't work on the plot I will have a walk around just to see how things are going. If I were to pay £250 per year I would have to be making the most of the plot all week.

Jimibeee

Wow seems like there is a lot of swinging costs. I have a new plot at the cost of £55 a year from the council, I am using it to grow hard toi find veg. I want to eat a lot more purple foods so have bought purple col, purple carrots, purple pots so its more for being able to get veg money cant buy, at least localy.

Orange_King

wellused - I'm the type of person who works in a 9-5 job for 30 years who has had enough of the rat race but can't afford not to work at least part time.

In my spare time at present I manage to make extra money from selling surplus plants and think that if I have extra time and possibly use of an allotment, I can hopefully make up any loss on income from dropping my hours, grow some decent produce maybe and indulge in my favourite hobby into the bargain. That is the long term plan.

I would hope to be recouping the £250 a year easily in less than a month so in my view it would be an expense I'd be willing to put up with. And there are 40 current plot holders more than willing to pay their annual fee probably due to lack of provision in the area.

I didn't realise there was an issue with what class people were to take on an allotment. I thought most were just interested in growing stuff and learning from others as they went along.

wellused

Orange King I must apologise this is the problem with the internet I wasn't casting aspersions I was just curious which sort of person is able and even more so willing to pay £250 for a 5 pole allotment plot. In my experience most people who garden on allotments are generally working class without the means to pay £250 per year for a small plot. I'll stop now as I don't want to dig an even deeper hole. Once again my apologies.