Council allotment inspectors - infuriating!

[Snadger]

To the untrained eye, my plot looks derelict.

I've still got 500% more winter veg growing on it than the brown desert brigade have though............

[alldigging]

To the untrained eye, my plot looks derelict.

I've still got 500% more winter veg growing on it than the brown desert brigade have though............

I demand photos!

[Two_Sheds]

To the untrained eye, my plot looks derelict

... and mine looks covered in weeds and mulches (I'm going to put up a sign "not weeds, green manures", because The Committee keep making rumblings about untidy plots).

[alldigging]

... and mine looks covered in weeds and mulches (I'm going to put up a sign "not weeds, green manures", because The Committee keep making rumblings about untidy plots).

You probably should put up lovely signs and info sheets for people. It's nice when you see 'non-conventional' gardening being done. It is certainly more interesting that mostly bare soil.

[jacob marley]

How do know that they were only inspecting just your plot and not the whole site it does, happen
when i was on the committee and we had a plot holder that let things get on top of him the Chairman used to have a word and if that did not have the desired effect a letter was sent from the committee and if that did no good the man from the council was informed and he would come along and inspect and send a letter if things had got out of hand .
I am not saying that this is the case with you BUZZINGTALK but just showing that they can work for the committee as well they get all the blame and not the committee .
Good luck with your endeavors and things work out ok.jacob.

[Two_Sheds]

You probably should put up lovely signs and info sheets for people.

I shouldn't have to.

It's my plot, it's my business. I'm very approachable, I think if people have something to say they should say it to my face.

(they don't though: they gossip to each other)

[alldigging]

I shouldn't have to.

It's my plot, it's my business. I'm very approachable, I think if people have something to say they should say it to my face.

(they don't though: they gossip to each other)

People often don't like to ask ...

I do ... But if I don't see someone on the plot I don't get to ask.

Anything that is unconventional is going to confuse people who don't read widely.

And yes you probably shouldn't have to ...

[Andromeda]

It can be difficult dealing with people who think there's only 1 acceptable way to do things, I really feel for you Two-Sheds.

I'm currently in a protracted argument with one plot holder about the 4 inch deep manure layer on some of my beds (the ones I will not be using until next year), she thinks I should remove it/cover it in case children pick up some form of infection from it if they fall in it - exactly how that would happen given that they shouldn't be on my plot is a question to which I have yet to receive an answer!

[Feral007]

I'm currently in a protracted argument with one plot holder about the 4 inch deep manure layer on some of my beds (the ones I will not be using until next year), she thinks I should remove it/cover it in case children pick up some form of infection from it if they fall in it - exactly how that would happen given that they shouldn't be on my plot is a question to which I have yet to receive an answer!

I'd probably be asking them not to spray their pesticides and unnatural fertilizers as I might get some nasty disease from that!

[zazen999]

It can be difficult dealing with people who think there's only 1 acceptable way to do things, I really feel for you Two-Sheds.

I'm currently in a protracted argument with one plot holder about the 4 inch deep manure layer on some of my beds (the ones I will not be using until next year), she thinks I should remove it/cover it in case children pick up some form of infection from it if they fall in it - exactly how that would happen given that they shouldn't be on my plot is a question to which I have yet to receive an answer!

'Thank you for your concern, however I don't allow any children on my plot and if I did, I would be supervising them. Good day to you'.

[alldigging]

in case children pick up some form of infection from it if they fall in it

Does she not use muck on her own plot?

I was told to let people know that they should be up to date with their tetanus jabs - especially kids re: muck being on site.

Are they her kids?

[BertieFox]

The people who administer allotments are not the same people who grow things in them, and therefore have little understanding of what really matters in growing things. I remember with great sadness the allotment we left behind in the UK when we moved to France. We had established a deep bed system over the years, it had been richly mulched, and there were beds of asparagus and other perennials including some wonderful flowers. When we handed it over, the council gave a reduction to the new owners due to the 'rubbish' on the plot (the boards enclosing the deep beds) and allowed the new renters to drive a rotavator through the asparagus beds and to destroy all the perennial vegetables and flowers. They also destroyed a whole ecosystem we had nurtured over the years which had created a habitat for slow worms, grass snakes and numerous insects like hover flies.
I expect those who took it over soon got bored with the allotment when they realised how much weeding had to be done, and that it was far harder to deal with rows of vegetables soaked in pesticides rather than the organic deep beds we had created for them.
Allotmenteers should band together to fight these ignoramuses who think they know better than we do with our years of experience.

[Two_Sheds]

^

un-like

[Andromeda]

Does she not use muck on her own plot?

I was told to let people know that they should be up to date with their tetanus jabs - especially kids re: muck being on site.

Are they her kids?

She doesn't use muck, she uses a vast selection of chemicals during the growing season and doesn't mulch over winter (then wonders why her soil is terrible!). Fortunately she's far enough away from my plot that she doesn't contaminate my land.

They are her children and she lets them run wild, they treat other plots as their playground although they do usually stay away from mine now - ever since one of them tripped and fell into my nettle patch. I am far from the only plot holder who uses muck and she's got as far with the other as she has with me, (basically that her children are her responsibility, not mine).

[alldigging]

What do other people think about having kids running over their plots?
I think unsupervised children is a huge insurance risk that your group should sort out urgently.