They want to take my allotment away from me.

Sapindus

I've had my allotment since 2012. I practice a sort of semi-no-dig permaculture approach. I harvest potatoes, blackcurrants, rhubarb, broad beans, artichokes, asparagus, runner beans, squashes and courgettes, salads, broccoli and kale, radishes, chard and all the other little things. Occasionally things get a but weedy but the soil is in such good heart I can go through and get it back in hand in an afternoon. Over winter, I mulch and grow a lot of green manure to protect the soil. the soil is in fantastic shape. I don't tolerate perennial weeds and don't let weeds go to seed.

The parish council have just done an inspection and pronounced that my plot is more than 25% uncultivated. They say "cultivation includes mulching, pruning, digging and weeding." They are refusing to come and talk to me about it. I don't know what I can do to satisfy them. I can try doing a bit more weeding and sow some pointless things this weekend just for the sake of it, but then in two weeks time they can just go "no, it's still uncultivated" and take my plot away and I will have no chance to remove my plants, not that there would be any point removing some of them at this time of year like the broad beans and potatoes. I am furious and heartbroken and terrified, and worried about the cost of all the extra food I will have to buy this year without my allotment.

It looks exactly the same as it does every year at this time and I have never had this.

I don't know what to do.

KajiKita

Sapindus,

I would put your first paragraph in writing to them and also refer them to the Charles Dowding and HRDA's websites. Ask for a face to face meeting to discuss it and then explain with the passion you have here, how much food you get from it, how you care for it and how you protect other people's plots from weed seeds. I think this has come from someone implementing a rule without good understanding of how an allotment can be run.
Is there an allotment committee with a sympathetic member who could back you up, or other tenants?
Keep posting here and tell us how you are getting on. I have book marked your post so I see your updates. You are not alone.
KK

Sapindus

I emailed my favourite parish councillor. I've had a couple of hours sleep and got up to distract myself from worrying and checked my emails. He did a degree in microbiology and says he will do his best to help. Of course the fact that he lost by 11 votes in the district council election, knows I voted for him, and is up for it again tomorrow may play a part in this!

We don't have an allotment committee. We have a power-crazed parish clerk vs a facebook group for the plotholders with 65 members. I will suggest to him that perhaps we should.

Thanks for the support.

KajiKita

Sapindus, I recommend you find who the Chair of the Parish Council is and ask them for some help and guidance as well. Therorectically the Clerk of the Council is subject to the Chair …. though our Clerk does seem to rather rule our Chair!

You could also contact the county council itself. I think a lot of messy publicity around a Clerk harassing a hard working and pleasant allotment Holder is publicity they might prefer to avoid …. 😉

KK

RAS

Who owns the allotments? Some are owned by the County or Metropolitian Council and managed by the Parish or Town Council. Some are owned by the Town or Parish Council. That affects who you can appeal to.

I'd wait until after tomorrow's elections. Write to the Chair of the Parish Cpuncil and copy anyone else there you think is helpful.

Ask them to be specific about what they mean by cultivated? Does this mean that all the ground has to be free of weeds? Do the people assessing the situation understand the use of green manures? And add in the basics of your first paragraph.

twopenny

I often let the weeds grow in my veg beds during the summer to shade the roots from the heat and so use less water on the ground.

Also good for insects of which we have so few.

But I think for those who aren't gardeners the 'no dig' policy is the way to go. There was an item last year on Gardeners World where the partial no dig was a thing being used by a grower.

I have to say my first cynical thought was that someones relative on the council was wanting an allotment and finding one they could find an excuse for.
I'd get talking to any other alotment holders as see if they had any result from the report. You could mention your no dig policy and find out if there is someone who thinks only pristine ground is the way to go. I have a friend like that.

Nelliegrace

I feel for you @Sapindus

Every year the best plot award went to a show plot which was grown just for judging day. The huge vegetables were too tough to eat and chemically bug free. The soil between the rows was bare. It was watered daily, and woe betide anyone who wanted to use the tap. There was a token row of tagetes useless to insects.

All winter the plot was bare earth.

We had the hugely productive permaculture plot just beyond it. It was crammed with insect friendly plants. We harvested our useful weeds for the rabbits and hens. Our bees improved everyones crops. We made the soil fantastic with tons of compost from seven compost bins. We provided comfrey feed by the gallon. We were always in disgrace.

alicef

Goodness - it has become a lot more rigid re. area to be under cultivation since I last had an allotment. Do you know your fellow allotmenteers either side or close by?  They may be able to add weight to the regularity & extent to which you cultivate rather than the evidence of a snap shot inspection visit.

Sapindus

I've just had an email from the parish clerk who had been up the site to have a look for herself.  She says the fruit bushes made it look less cultivated than it is and I will not get a follow-up letter on this occasion, but there will be bi-monthly inspections until October.

It's a good thing that this will hopefully get more of the genuinely neglected plots back into use, but it's been hell getting caught in the collateral damage. I have replied politely explaining again the differences in how I manage it.

RAS

So, basically, it was viewed by someone who didn't know a nettle from a currant bush?

Sapindus

It was viewed by someone who has never heard of permaculture or Bob Flowerdew.

Look at that garlic.  Size of leeks, they are.