Has allotment demand really increased?

[ClayGarden]

I think the best way of getting a site is to show willing, when I applied, I gave the secretary a letter of my background. Offering to take on any plot which needed repatriating, as a result I got what I asked for, but it is the only plot on our site that was untended. I was also told that if I could turn it around this year then maybe next year a better plot may become available.

Blimey would you take it though if a better one came along? After all the hard work you've put into this one?

[Snadger]

Blimey would you take it though if a better one came along? After all the hard work you've put into this one?

I did! ........

[Paulottie]

Derilict plots!... a disgrace

I took on my first plot in 2003, there were five of us then, now there are 13 of us. And the site is essentially full. I now have two plots as well as another tenant. whilst a few have 1/2 plots. So even in a country village demand has definitely increased. I think this is not the case in all rural communities. It is strange that some adjoining communities have waiting lists while others have spare plots. The demographic is definitely changing though; with far more younger folk (often couples) with different motivations: Education of children, emancipation from the stress of modern money orientated living, health, the environment, rejection of the supermarkets or fast-food giants etc. rather than just the economically challenged pensioners escaping their homes and wives that became the standard during the previous 30 years. It is, however hard work to start and important that beginners attempt a plot size they can reasonably manage.

I now manage the site for the parish council. I realise that it is a small and intimate site but I think it possibly helps that I am actually an allotmenteer who regularly visits the site. (this is not always the case with councils.) A couple of us ploughed the unused land (as the previous manager did) and I with others have strimmed the site and removed all the rubbish. I think it is unreasonable to expect anyone to take on a bramble patch. Folk want to grow veg not undertake weeks of ground clearance. Often tenants just need a hand to get started and they are hooked! I believe as manager it is my responsibility to clear up any unused land and get it rented out. To keep the rent low I expect an amount of labour from all tenants for the common good and spend the rent to benfit all (favouring those who imput most)

It is in all our interests to keep it ALL cultivated. Also to encourage pride in the whole site. However, whilst I wish to give the gardeners every chance and encouragement to succeed, it is soon apparent if it is just a pipe dream. We now charge in advance to help separate the wheat from the chaff. I have a month to quit clause and should the tenants not work their plots it contravenes the rules I shan't hesitate to find out if there is a genuine excuse. If not...a warning... then they are gone. TWO years is appalling

We are just volunteers out here in the parishes. It is disgraceful to hear that sites have derelict plots and no show tenants while folk wait in the wings. There is far too much wastefulness in our society and if council workers are paid public money to manage the site they should have an basic idea about gardening and a responsibility to keep that site full of genuine tenants. It is a requirement in law that land should be provided if there is sufficient demand. It is no coincidence that the better run sites are full.

[Mikey]

Blimey would you take it though if a better one came along? After all the hard work you've put into this one?

Of Course, my plot is quite heavy and predominantly clay, the thin top soil dries quickly and hard. I have bindweed, which I know is going to be a long term problem, although I am doing my best to get rid of it. The plot is a good size, but there are bigger. So in answer if a better patch became available hell yeah I'd take it no matter how much work I had done on this one.

[ClayGarden]

Of Course, my plot is quite heavy and predominantly clay, the thin top soil dries quickly and hard. I have bindweed, which I know is going to be a long term problem, although I am doing my best to get rid of it. The plot is a good size, but there are bigger. So in answer if a better patch became available hell yeah I'd take it no matter how much work I had done on this one.

Well when you put it like that

[chuffa]

I live in Derby and have been on one waiting list for almost 2 years, I then decided to try another allotment which I have to drive to rather than walk to, after 6 weeks I got a call to say one was available although it is extremely overgrown. The lady next to me says it hasn't been grown on for about 4 years. It seems such a shame that people hang onto a site when there are so many people waiting for one. My husband thinks I am crazy as it is literally like a field of brambles, but I see it as a challenge and just really appreciate having the plot. Since taking on the plot there are now 14 people on the waiting list, so there certainly seems an increase in demand in our area!
Happy gardening!

Our parish council decided that if anyone was not going to farm their plot they would have to hand it back. This makes it fair for those wishing to grow.

[Winged one]

When I joined the waiting list in January 06, there was no real chance of a plot in the relets in Feb that year - it might have been 07 or more likely 08. I got lucky and they cleared the waiting list last Spring by getting rid of those who hadn't cultivated their plots for a couple of years (I think there were 60 on the list and there's 102 plots on the site) and a few of the full sized (and even some of the half ones) were halved. I got a quarter plot, but as it was uncultivated, it was a reasonable size to sstart (I could have taken a half one, but we are a young couple with a toddler who both work fulltime, so I tried to be aware of our limits!!).

Apparently, even though the local authoirty cleared the list last spring (07), by January 08 there were 151 people on the list again and, while there are a few plots that are likely to be reassigned (mostly those who failed were ladies "d'un certain age" rather than the younguns like us), there are not that many so the list will be well over 100 still. And that is for the whole local authority area (Dun Laoghaire Rathdown county council - so quite a large swathe of the south end of the city of Dublin) as they only have 1 site. Luckily rents are staying the same this year cos of all the messing going on but I suspect they will rise next year from talking to the girl in charge.