Feeling bullied off my plot

[dominic10]

I would consider contacting the press if I were you. There have been a couple of allotment stories I have read over the last couple of years. If anything, it would shame the individual who has taken over your plot and presumably has done it for his own selfish gain.

[akashicdevi]

Finally got hold of the council lady... she says the termination letter shouldn't have gone out. She wasn't aware that it had. She's going to get it rescinded, so I can disregard it for the moment. (oh thank GOODNESS) She had asked the committee to find a resolution for me, but she doesn't feel that going down the termination route is appropriate given what she's heard.
I made sure to point out to her that its only been about 2 weeks since i received the 28 day cultivation notice-because they've addressed everything wrong (the first line is mis-spelled and the postcode is wrong enough to send it completely awol)... I'm not a legal expert but to my mind, it seems that the onus is on them to ensure I have proper notification anyway?? They do have the correct address on all my invoices though, so i have supplied the council with my correct address...

I had been forwarding all the correspondence with the committee to her. She has set aside some time to read and unravel the whole thing tomorrow.
I guess I am going to be pacing the floors until then!

I've been looking at the NSALG website and I can't find any documents or info beyond vague details on their member benefits etc... Am I navigating it wrong and being daft? I'm gonna give them a call and join. Though I do note that it says to allow 28 days for the membership administration to be processed. That seems awfully slow... but I am awfully impatient given the situation... Wish I'd joined them ages ago. It had been briefly mentioned in a site meeting about joining as a site, but seems our committee's been busy prioritising other things instead...

[akashicdevi]

If none of this works then if I were you I would be back on site on the last day, armed with a huge tub of weedkiller and liberally dose your old plot and everything on it (until the termination day it is all still yours) after harvesting anything that is ready.

After this treatment I would be looking around for another allotment - I certainly wouldn't go back to one that had treated me like that as there is no guarantee that it wouldn't happen again. You are not losing anything at the moment as it sounds like you would have to start from scratch again anyway.

Just don't let the barstools grind you down - remember that you are better than them.

If you lived closer I would give you part of my plot, just to tide you over until you got sorted.

Andy

You're really kind, thank you...
There's a huge part of me that wants to curl up into a ball and hope this all goes away. Its like a nightmare, sooo frustrating to be disregarded so badly by them. I feel completely trampled on.
But deep down I know I can't let them get away with it. If I walked away, they'll carry on this way, thinking they can do what they like. In the long term that will spell trouble for the whole site- people will get disenfranchised and leave. I've already heard that people have left in the last few weeks. (Yes, there are empty plots, not covered by any plastic, faaar weedier than mine which they could have commandeered instead... but no, mine was conveniently next door!)

And what if they did this to someone more litigious than me? The cost of dealing with complaints and court cases would negatively impact the site as a whole.
And as for moving to a different plot- I couldn't stomach that. Its sooo unjust.
I can't let bullies win... i just can't... it would eat me up for a long time.

Nope, no weedkiller... i don't use the stuff... I know too much about it. The myth that it breaks down on contact with the soil has been shown to be untrue- the makers were forced in a high court (France 2009, and in New York in the 90s) to remove that claim from their labelling and were fined for misleading advertising... what it actually does is bind itself to minerals in the soil, ('chelation') making them unavailable to plants, so it effectively starves future crops. It also get taken up by plants in this bound-up form and ends up in the food chain. They tested the urine of German city dwellers recently and found high levels of glyphosate!! The makers also invented DDT and claimed for years that was safe too... Apologies, this is all off topic... and I don't want to scare anyone, or get contraversial, it's just a subject I've really 'geeked up on'... there is a place for glyphosate but its not on my plot... (its STILL my plot!!!! grrr) ... what people choose to do with theirs is their own business. I totally appreciate there are people who don't have the option to not use it...
The best revenge I can have is getting my plot back and harvesting the crops he planted, I think

[bearded bloke]

Might be an idea to email a link of this thread to your council lady

[Bigmallly]

Taking onboard your previous post, would the weedkiller he has already put down have any effect on your future crops? is that not an act of vandelism?

[akashicdevi]

Taking onboard your previous post, would the weedkiller he has already put down have any effect on your future crops? is that not an act of vandelism?

Yup, aside from the fact he's killed my fruit and herbs, the effect on the soil is also vandalism in my book. When I emailed the committee, i requested information on what weedkiller had been used, I wanted to have a full picture of what I was dealing with... also wanted to get an admission in writing. They confirmed it was glyphosate.

To be honest, the amount of chelation (minerals being bound up) that would have occurred with one spraying wouldn't be as bad as situations where its used intensively, where deficiencies of manganese, copper, iron, calcium, zinc can cause all kindsa problems... including making the plants more prone to disease. If you use it, you'd need to think about getting more of those minerals added back into the soil to balance the effect.

I haven't decided what to do with that section (when/if I get back on my plot)- its about 25% of the plot thats been sprayed. I'm looking into possibly using a lasagne method to give it time to recover, but its a pain, because its hard to get straw in London!!!
(If anyone has any tips for finding straw in London... please help!!.... my other option is hugelkultur, and that looks tricky... but might irritate my plot neighbour too... as i sit on my mini mountain with a beer, surveying all! lol)

[rustylady]

So glad you're sounding more positive. Hope everything turns out well for you.

[alldigging]

You could make a list of plants he killed and price up replacements.

[soladragon]

I hope you win this battle. The lot of them sound like ignorant, selfish and cruel people who only think about themselves. I always think of how they would act if the tables turned. They would probably be calling the police!

[soladragon]

Nope, no weedkiller... i don't use the stuff... I know too much about it. The myth that it breaks down on contact with the soil has been shown to be untrue- the makers were forced in a high court (France 2009, and in New York in the 90s) to remove that claim from their labelling and were fined for misleading advertising... what it actually does is bind itself to minerals in the soil, ('chelation') making them unavailable to plants, so it effectively starves future crops. It also get taken up by plants in this bound-up form and ends up in the food chain. They tested the urine of German city dwellers recently and found high levels of glyphosate!! The makers also invented DDT and claimed for years that was safe too... Apologies, this is all off topic... and I don't want to scare anyone, or get contraversial, it's just a subject I've really 'geeked up on'... there is a place for glyphosate but its not on my plot... (its STILL my plot!!!! grrr) ... what people choose to do with theirs is their own business. I totally appreciate there are people who don't have the option to not use it...
The best revenge I can have is getting my plot back and harvesting the crops he planted, I think

Completely agree! Also I hear that through all this weed killer all we are doing is creating more resistant weeds. I don't know I just think that if rocks mulch and grass was good enough for our ancestors then it is good enough for me :P

[Feral007]

I'm trying not to get too angry here, but it's not working!

On reading your latest posts my first thought was that your neighbour wanted your plot for himself or for his friends so the could be a lottie clique. Hate cliquey people! They can never do anything alone,, they always have to have a little 'gang' around to back them up.

I would be interested in a couple of things. One, do the other people who have left have plots near yours and this neighbour's? Are they looking at increasing the sizes of their own plots each, or even in taking over a complete section of it for themselves?

On that thought, how many plots is a person allowed to own/manage? Are they going to put their friends or relatives in, in name but take over the plot themselves?

And, if they are plotting up like this in area, which will = volume of product............are they planning on making a fruit and veg selling business?

It all smells fishy to me. I'd say there's something more at the bottom of this than just one plot. I may seem a suspicious person...........but I'm the mother of teenagers and I just can't help myself!

I'm so glad the council lady is going to get pro active in a hurry. And I'm even gladder (is that a word?) that you are feeling much stronger in yourself. Show 'em what you're made of!

Now, I'm not encouraging you to do anything to the site, but a little fantasy event popped into my head while I was reading - you could accidentally get a load of horse manure dropped onto HIS site. Now, even in a fantasy I would never hurt the earth. But if you had a certificate to say the manure was not contaminated in any shape or form...............but it was in a steaming pile on his plot and he has no idea if it's clean or not.............. - and he gets a notice to remove it at his cost? I know. It's juvenile, but sometimes a little juvenile fantasy about what you could do if you weren't being 'the bigger person' is just what you need to keep a smile on your dial.

[Jeanied]

...If anyone has any tips for finding straw in London... please help!!...

Have you tried looking for local stables? This could be useful on two fronts - one to find a source of horse manure and the other to get the odd bale of straw. You will need to arrange transport though, I suspect.

(There is a stables near Mount Vernon hospital I used to call at - they let me lug away as much horse manure I could handle in the back of the car- it was really good stuff!)

[zazen999]

Hi guys. Can we desist with the sabotage suggestions please. Just positive suggestions would be good, especially bearing in mind that the lady from the council seems to recognise the situation, that putting contaminated manure anywhere can affect the plot for years and we don't advocate any destruction of other people's plots no matter who has them.

[Feral007]

Yes, ma'am. Just couldn't help myself there for a minute.

It's alright, I'm off to the Norty Step with me Aldi Red wine - cos I don't have the equipment yet to make me red and green cabbage wine..............

[akashicdevi]

One, do the other people who have left have plots near yours and this neighbour's? Are they looking at increasing the sizes of their own plots each, or even in taking over a complete section of it for themselves?

On that thought, how many plots is a person allowed to own/manage? Are they going to put their friends or relatives in, in name but take over the plot themselves?

It all smells fishy to me. I'd say there's something more at the bottom of this than just one plot. I may seem a suspicious person...........but I'm the mother of teenagers and I just can't help myself!

The people who are leaving are dotted around the site. Mine is the only plot that has been taken over that I'm aware of- it's really hard for me to be sure.
The plot at the top of mine has been uncultivated and uncovered for 2 years now, and if someone was looking to increase their number of plots, then I would have thought that one would make a more sensible option for take-over! There's no specification to how many plots a person can own in the tenancy agreement. (which are the only rules we have... we haven't even got a constitution yet!!)

I'm enjoying all the fantasies.... i'm not planning on following any... but they're nice to think about

I've got to say thank you to all of you for helping keep my spirits up. Thank you. I've felt quite alone dealing with this situation, and its been so helpful to hear others take on this. It's really been more helpful than I can say!!