Am I daft to think...

[baldrick]

I never ever take my pushchair. Seriously those shopping bag car seats are better and they fit in a wheelbarrow! It was slightly easier for me as I was pregnant when I took the lottie so got the hard digging cracked by the baby came. Mine is divided into 8 areas, one of which as someone said is a sitting area with a thick woodchip floor. Its got a few fruit bushes in it in case I get accused of wasting space. Its going to have a mesh fence round it so I can relax when she is up and about and I want to sit and have a cuppa. It will also restrain Baldrick the babysitting dog.
One area has a walk in chook run bolted together so it can be moved in rotation. Fantastic in the rain. The car seat sits lovely on top of the chook house. The others are veg beds but they are only divided by chipping paths so its easy to dig over and weed and replace yearly as well as alter sizes if necessary. At a push just get spuds in one bit next year, then the year after put spuds in the next bit and onions were the spuds were the year before. By then baba will be bigger and you can set it up peoperly. You may have to enlist a helper to do the strimming (flying bits and bobs, baby in sling, frequent feed stops...ugh) but covering with tarps is easy enough when wearing a baby. Its a lot easier if you can breastfeed as I latch her on and carry on with her in the sling. Of course if you dont BF you can enlist a babymad helper to come and babysit? The other thing I did was accurately measure the whole plot, note down areas that are restricted (shade/rocks/existing fruit etc) and do a lot of my dividing what would go where etc on paper at home. That way you have done the hardest bit in the warm and comfort and you can see where you are going when the baby is howling and you are in tears coz you think it will never get done.....you can just work at having one area at a time looking like you are getting somewhere... I really hope it all goes well for you. x

[Rabidbun]

Well, I've been up there to have a look.

Unfortunately (though the plots that seemed free were not hugely overgrown), there were two main negatives that decided me against taking one on - access (45 minutes to get there including a nasty stretch of main road and ten minutes from any car access), and safety considerations (the huge amount of rusting metal/asbestos/broken glass and assorted debris surrounding the path to the plots and on the plots themselves was daunting).

So that's me sticking to my teeny raised beds for now at least.

Thanks to everyone that offered advice, it was much appreciated - I'm definitely feeling postive about an allotment, but just not this one.

[singleseeder]

I think that on balance you are probably right to wait. Was it the whole allotment site that was in a bad state or just the ones that were waiting to be relet? I wonder if you can stay on the waiting list until a better plot becomes available or do you think that the 45 min to get there is just too much?

Luckily, I was allowed to pass on two plots that were not suitable for me but I remained at the top of the waiting list. Also, I only have a 9 minute wheelbarrow walk from my shed to my front door; even when fully loaded with my grand daughter.

You will be able to grow quite a bit in a couple of raised beds as well as Morrison buckets, old recycling boxes and just about anything that holds some compost. To make the most of your space, start every thing off in modules so that your plants have a good root system ready to put in when space becomes available.

Time goes very quickly and you will get an allotment when the time is right I'm sure.

[Rabidbun]

The site itself was quite well worked up at one end, but the end where the plots were available looked as though it had been used for a fair time to store any surplus rusty things, which it probably has, as no real way of moving things on and off it, let alone getting a skip there.

It was pretty much 50:50 between access/distance away and the state of the surroundings to the site tbh, not right for me but I reckon it will probably get filled up with folks it suits just fine.

[baldrick]

sorry to hear this but you are right. If you cant get there without major hassle and then its horrible and drudge with no end when you do get there you will just beat yourself up and hate it. Your time will come. x

[Aberdeenplotter]

I'm two minutes away from my plot and it is only 50 - 60 yards away from where I can get the car parked which for me is pure dead brilliant. That makes it very easy for me to utilise a spare half hour which can make the difference between keeping my plot tidy and letting it run out of control and I don't have a little un to cater for either. A half hour for you would have been more than swallowed up by the travelling time. It's a shame that this plot isn't the one for you but you have made a reasoned decision before turning it down. There will be other plots that do not have the problems associated with this one

[donnakebab]

It makes me realise how lucky I am to have my plot. It takes me about 12 minutes to walk from home and if I bring the car I can park at the end of it. It's a brilliant site enclosed by a railway embankment, a wildlife conservation area, stables and a an old mill pond. i love it.