We’ve just received our letter of renewal on the allotment lease – it always reminds me of how fortunate we are to be able to rent the land for such a small amount of money. Others might not be feeling so content. At this time of year some plot holders will also be receiving notices terminating their agreements, having received earlier warning letters that their plots were not up to scratch.
So why do some people fail at allotments while others succeed? The answer could have as much to do with genetic make-up as it does with horticultural aptitude.
The subject was on my mind a while back when I went on my annual pilgrimage to see my mate Natasha in Rugby who tends to three plots. Her acreage backs on to a plot owned by John, a lovely man who always gives me trugs-full of raspberries to take home to turn into jam.
Regular as clockwork, John turns up at the plot Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Sunday mornings he is also there. On Saturday he never fails to clean out his bird cages. It won’t surprise you to learn that John’s allotment is always in great shape.
Then I started thinking about the book I had just finished, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. Covey points out that one of the ways to be effective is to develop regular habits. It’s like farming or gardening, he explains: there are some tasks that just can’t be ‘crammed,’ they have to happen bit by bit and in the right season.
But if you look around you, people have all sorts of working styles. The world often seems divided between people who are regular, habit followers who tend to stick to a plan, and those who have bursts of creative energy followed by periods of rest, who thrive on spontaneity. There is nothing wrong with either model, but it would seem that the latter group may have a disadvantage when it comes to accomplishing tasks that require continuous attention and planning. As every successful allotmenteer will tell you, ‘little and often’ is the key to success.
People take on allotments for all sorts of different reasons, but for those who dream of ‘rus in urbe’, having the countryside in the town, the reality is that growing your own veg is going to require a regular commitment of around 10-12 hours a week in the busy season. Think about this before you contemplate taking one on.
One thing I’ve discovered, is that allotments, like babies, are great for killing spontaneity: no you cannot go down to the art gallery to join your friends on a sunny afternoon. It hasn’t rained and the plot needs watering.
Sorry kids, we can’t go swimming, it’s just rained and the raspberries will rot if we don’t pick them.
Why is it that some people cram for exams and others pace themselves throughout the year? Why do so many of us put ourselves through the hell of last minute tax returns? If you’ve just received a nasty letter from the allotment committee or have had to give up an allotment – don’t beat yourself up or feel like a failure. Put it down to having an artistic temperament and blame it on your genes!
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i have justngave my allotment up after 8years offun and hard work.hope its the right desision,things change and other things come along i now have lovely grandkids,and a nice caravan so i will now spend my time with them,but i will miss the garden.
If you take on an allotment you must make time to work on it. There are no soft or easy options. But dont do it to the exclusion of everything else, otherwise it becomes an obsession and you will loose a lot of the benefit it brings to you no matter how big your onions are.
After years of struggle with my ‘artisitc temperament’ and lots of threatening letters from the allotment society, I was saved by a book by Lia Leendertz who writes in the Guardian. She realised that lots of people wait ages for a plot then give it up after a year as they feel overwhelmed. Her solution is that you to go to the allotment with a planned job, 5 times a week, and work for half an hour. You don’t do any other job. Then you don t feel overwhelmed and it becomes a virtuous circle. It really worked for me, and the half hour gradually turned to several hours. Highly recommended.
We’ve had our allotment for 2 years now and while it’s been hard work we’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. Our reward of organic produce and better health was superceded yesterday – we recieved a letter to say we’ve been awarded a trophy for the best plot!
A real surprise because we’re always so envious of the other seemingly more organised plots.
Will we renew or tenancy? Definitely!
I have had those letters – the bad time is always May/June when the weeds grow a foot a day! I grow everything in beds and that is brilliant because I can clear or plant one bed and see what I have done – rather than the daunting whole plot. It pays to keep it tidiest near the path where the inspectors will walk! They won’t necessarily go on to the plot! I often go for half an hour where I used to think it just wasn’t worth it. Little and often.
We took over our large plot 2.5 years ago. It was full of brambles, nettles, bindweed & dock. But gradually by digging just a bed at a time – double digging to get rid of all the weed problems we’ve now cleared about 2/3rds of it. All those beds need now is a quick fork over before planting and a quick race round with a hoe after planting to keep the annual weeds down. We’ve found the best way is to dig 1 or 2 new beds in the winter (during any dry patch of weather)when most stuff has died down and cover the rest with black polythene, cardboard etc. It’s not so daunting. Anyway, there’s enough to do in the spring & summer looking after the crops and admiring your handywork without trying to dig new beds.
i have an allotment in northwood kirkby nr liverpool and when i started a year ago ther was five girls and two lads and a old woman on it there is a 30ft polly tunnel on it i have two plots one veg and the other is flowers with a pond on it the girls that run it dont cume any more the pollytunelwas empty all summer and no one came they maid an aperance a few times in the summer but done nothing the only time they cume is when the council comes thats sad thir is sevin plots on the allotment and alot more ground out side which they whont fore football i think they could be more allotments but the girls say no it is sad ther is a waighting list for allotments why carnt the council see past ther noses ther is a two hundread waighting list for an a allotment in knowsley in all the other allotments if you dont turn up for a few weeks you lose the plot and sumeone else gets it in this case that dose not hapen thats sad becouse the plot could go to sumeone that whonts it thats sad becouse i no that will not hapen.
Fortunately I have never received a letter terminating my garden plot and if I did it would be devastating. But I am a guilty one for feeling overwhelmed for at least half a growing season. My plot is nearly over run by weeds while fellow gardener’s plots look neat and their flowers and vegetables grow to publishing worthy size and color. I usually start out well but by mid season I feel that everything (task) is an urgent one. I vow every end of growing season that it will be better the next and I will be more organized and I seem to fall short. In 2010 I am again hopeful and will remember what worked and what did not and try again which is the wonderful thing about gardening, you get to wipe the canvas clean and start again in the spring.
Hi, speaking as the Chairman of a Birmingham Allotment Association, may I just state the case from the “other” perspective. I absolutely hate having to send letter out, and “chastise” people, as though they were naughty kids. It’s the least pleasant aspect of the role, but all to often one that has to be done. Of course there are times when for perfectly legitimate reasons people cannot commit the time for family, work or other reasons. Such mitigating circumstances always have allowances made for them and rightly so. However, there are the terminal offenders, who seem to regard their rented plot of land as though it were some ‘family bequeathal from a favourite aunt’, that is theirs by right and must be hung into at all costs – usually this regretably only entails committing to an afternoon’s digging once every 3 months, to be seen to be doing something! Meanwhile, every week new people ask what the waiting list’s like, or, if they’re on it already, then have they moved up the list. Not to mention the poor unfortunate neighbours who are forced into complaining, justifiably, about being overrun with weeds, when all they want to do is grow some fruit and veg. That’s the really difficult bit, knowing there are committed plotholders and would-be plotholders desperate to have a go, but meanwhile some people who have never and will never make a go if it hang on stubbornly (and dare I say selfishly) to a weed ridden strip of land. The thing is, it’s not even that easy to lose a plot once you have it! It takes three warning letters over 3 months and if on the very last day you turn up and dig a few square meters over, the Council will say that’s enough and you go back to sqaure one! So don’t feel too sorry for those who end up losing their plots, they really must’ve done nothing for a long time! Instead, spare a thought for the desperate folks patiently waiting!
i wish ther was sume one reeding this from the allotments for the mersey side allotment becouse that dose not hapen in northwood kirkby allotments
I am a very keen Gardener and would love nothing more than an allotment of my own. The only problem is I know through working in Horticulture on a daily basis that it takes a lot of spare time and dedication to keep it up to scratch – something I just dont have time for anymore. ‘Grow your Own’ campaigns have had a positive response from the general public, however some people arent aware of how much time and effort it really takes to keep the plot going. Maybe they should be made aware when taking it on- much like the ‘Dogs for life not just for Christmas’ campaign!!….
I find your post on “allotments” interesting. I am from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, USA. Sorry, but wasn’t aware of such a thing as allotments. Sounds like a good way for those that don’t have the land or area large enough to garden to be able to do so.
We’ve had an allotment for 3 years , at first we worked really hard to dig out all the weeds and brambles before planting anything . The second year we planted loads and it all did really well but so did the weeds , we used to almost get in a panic about everything that needed to be done . Then we spoke to a fellow allotment holder and he said ” It’s meant to be fun , if you don’t enjoy it what’s the point ?” Since then we spend a couple of hours EVERY weekend doing what we can . The plots not perfect but it’s thriving , looks loved and worked . Who cares if there’s a few weeds here and there …We love it and that’s all that matters
I took on a big 10 rod plot in August. It’s very exciting but equally daunting as it hadn’t been cultivated for years. I would also recommend Lia Leendertz’s book, The Half-hour Allotment. Little and often is definitley the mantra I am chanting to myself. Cover up the bits you’re not working on and gradually move forward until it’s all worked. Speak to other plot holders and the allotment committee for advice. I’ve found everyone to be very helpful.
We were on the waiting list for over six years before we got our allotment, so I don’t feel sorry for those who don’t use their allotments for years on end, and get letters and official warnings. I strongly agree it is a ‘right’ to have an allotment and to grow your own, and the social history of ‘the landless poor’ claiming the use of the land as theirs is fascinating – allotments are great social leveller, and bring together people from all different backgrounds. But those who regularly do not use this opportunity can be said to be abusing this right at the expense of others. The two ladies’ who had our allotment before us had completely neglected it, so it took us a lot of very hard work and much time to get it into a condition where we could see the ground, let alone plant things in it! However, we love our allotment and, as two people who work full time and a lot of overtime, we are very happy with what we have achieved. We do as much as we can when we can, whether it is “little and often” or sustained bursts over longer periods of time. In my opinion both ways work, as long as you use the plot, and enjoy it. You can create regular habits as well as be creative: it’s horses for courses!
Plants i hate periwinkle and ground cover i see it as lazy gardening.Ivy also is something i fight with
An Allotment, Is a great community builder. I think a lot of social problems would be eased If more people had one. Sounds deep, but I believe this to be true. I absolutely Love mine, and have made a really great bunch of friends whilst there, had It for 2 years now, people will always help you out, give you stuff, and share a cup of tea!
I recommend it to anyone.
An Allotment, Is a great community builder. I think a lot of social problems would be eased If more people had one. Sounds deep, but I believe this to be true. I Love mine, and have made a really great bunch of friends whilst there, had It for 2 years now, people will always help you out, give you stuff, and share a cup of tea!
I recommend it to anyone.
We have an “unusual” allotment, in that it is land that was once set aside for the farm workers of an agricultural estate in East Anglia, and is now given over to the villagers and other locals, we have a heavy clay soil, which can be really cleggy, yet also free draining, and i have just discovered that to grow brussels, there needs to be plenty of organic matter, which would account for why the last two winters mine have “blown”. We have no mains water, but rely on the farmers manganese containers (1000 litres) to feed rainwater off of the adjoining schools’ roofs, so the whole enterprise is fairly full of challenges and the weather’s vagrancies, but since this recession and people’s concern about where their food is coming from, the take-up of space has doubled, so enhancing the sense of community, but there is still enough space to feel a sense of privacy and contentment. Every success is a triumph, and every failure is something to work upon solving in the next growing season.