I am allowed on a Private plot

[Andraste]

Are you still tending/improving this plot Marb67? Just curious (or nosey as OH would put it) as to how things might be coming along as it must be about 12 months now. x

[Marb67]

Are you still tending/improving this plot Marb67? Just curious (or nosey as OH would put it) as to how things might be coming along as it must be about 12 months now. x

I'm afraid that chapter is over as after all the weeks of hard work the owner got an allotment agreement contract printed out (this wasn't discussed at the beginning as It was initially a gentleman's agreement of me keeping it in order for the chance to grow a few things of my own) and in the agreement it stated I am responsible for maintenance of hedges ( I would need power) not allowed to sell any produce (wasn't planning to) but the deal breaker was he can have a "fair share" of my produce. Bear in mind him and his wife have a huge garden with a plot growing more than enough for them as well as his own produce on the plot. There are other issues which I won't go into but I found out the hard way after wasting a whole summer getting it in shape for nothing as now it's even worse than it was last year before I got to work. I declined and left after thinking long and hard. Too many drawbacks and the land wasn't that good either. That's what happens when you are wealthy but very stingy, as the land owner turned out to be. I didn't even get a nod of appreciation, thankyou or even a smile would have been nice.

My Niece hase let me take over her garden as she hates gardening (loves plants etc though) to do what I want, and keep it in order. I don't have anywhere near the space I had at the plot but its better than nothing and the soil is very good as it's an old cottage.

[Andraste]

Sorry to hear your hard work was wasted - you made some really good headway. But never mind, I'm a firm believer that these things happen for a reason &your arrangement with your niece (and her ground) sounds like a vast improvement all round.

Have you thought about putting your name down for an allotment on a local site? I appreciate the wait can be quite long in some places but you have your current project with your niece to keep you busy until one comes along. We waited about 18 months for ours I think but it was worth it - the comradery on our site is a real bonus (advice, spare plants/seeds, an occasional helping pair of hands and, most importantly, a chat with likeminded folk). There are always a few who take things a bit too seriously ('haven't seen X for Y weeks', 'look at Z's weeds' etc.) but I've mastered the art of nodding and grunting non-committedly to staying outside of any 'plot politics'

[Marb67]

No chance of an allotment as I think the council want to run it down. I see plots not looked after which annoys me but even when they were taking on it was years and years to wait. Quite depressing as I'll never get one. It's only yards down the road too. There is a guy we watch on YouTube and he seems to get no end of plots until he moves on and gets another. Sometimes 2 or 3 on the go.

[Andraste]

I've heard about councils that hope to run down plots to grab the land for other purposes but I believe there are still laws about providing allotments that are quite difficult to get around, especially if there's a waiting list that evidences local demand. In fact, I understand they're obliged to find extra plots too (but that's likely a long battle I don't think I'd fancy getting into). We're lucky here that although our site is owned by the council, a small committee of plot holders are responsible for running things & have little interference (as long as the council get the rent they're happy to have someone else do the hard work).

I'd be tempted to have a wander over to your local site & see if you can find a plot holder to have a chat with - there might be a 'backdoor' or at least some support for you to get a plot. Overgrown plots are a burden for everyone - they're not just unsightly but blow weeds & harbour pests that effect other plotters, so maybe there's an opportunity to pushing you up the list a bit if you're prepared to take on a neglected area no one else wants or to rally the plotters to contact the council about allocating vacancies to the waiting list?

It might be worth asking the council again about the waiting list - I know our site's had quite a bit of fluctuation in demand from years of waiting to not being able to find anyone to take them on.

Many moons ago a lack of demand led to half our site being taken over to create a football pitch for the adjacent primary school & even then many of the old guard took on extra plots just to keep the site going. Unfortunately that led to a 'rule' that any vacant plot got offered to the neighbouring plotholder first (as long as their existing plot was in good condition), As it's only a small site, when demand went up again it created a bit of a bottleneck - there are still quite a few who have 2 plots (I know of one chap who has 3).

As I mentioned, we waited about 18 months for ours. This mostly resulted from a rule change for newbies to get offered a 'half-plot' initially (which helped to double availability for the waiting list), with a view to being offered another half if you show you can keep up with tending it. It seems they had a bit of trouble with people not realising how much work a full sized plot takes to look after.

There's since been another rule change (rightly in my view) that any vacant plot gets offered to the waiting list before anyone who already has a plot gets the option (even if you only have a half-plot). I don't think there's hardly anyone left on the list now.

[Marb67]

Too be honest I can't be bothered and will just plod on using my own garden and my neice's. It'll do for the two of us and I like my privacy and being alone although when I do see folk I am always happy to chat. The weird thing about my niece's is to get to her back garden there is shared access so you have to open a couple of neighbours gates and into their gardens to get to it, and believe me I have found out that that has it's politics. In fact its not very practical when you take your bike or need to bring a wheelie bind in and out. Especially when one neighbour is worried about a dog getting out. It's a real pain and I would never buy another property (not that I intend to) with shared access.