Allotment article in Sunday Times Style Magazine

[frias]

Theirs some funny people darn sarf!

Cheeky! I'd love a lottie but the waiting list is closed here.

[Gwyndy]

I blame programmes like Gardeners World for making people believe that you can cultivate an allotment in 10 minutes per week and that you can feed a family of 14 from a one metre square raised bed and still have enough left for your friends and neighbours. That's why we get all these 'Fashion Accessory' gardeners like Margot on 'The Good Life', and why we now have such huge waiting lists. (125 in our town at the last count.)

And a lot of people just don't want to do the basics like digging and weeding. A newbie has just taken the tenancy of a plot next to mine. When I went to the site this morning there was a guy (not the tenant) spraying the plot with Roundup and said he would be back on Saturday to rotovate it!!! He has obviously conned the new guy in to believing that he can rid his plot of all the long established weeds in four days! Sadly I haven't met the new chap yet or I could have saved him quite a few quid and a lot of heartache when the all the weeds come back tenfold in a few weeks time.