allotments - am I out of my depth.

[ilovemydog]

I have just been offered an allotment which is amazing and am really looking forward to having a chance to grow own herbs and veg.

But, I have been told by mil and sil that I don't have time and that it's lots and lots of work.

The mil has always wanted an allotment, but said it was impossible to get as the waiting lists were too long. She is a keen gardener, so I thought she would be thrilled at the opportunity as I've offered to do it as a joint venture, but she has been very negative???

The sister in law apparently believed the mil as far it being impossible to get an allotment, so moved about 45 minutes away so she could have a garden to grown vegetables in. She now wishes she investigated it further.

So, how hard is it to start an allotment? I've never done this before and am thinking of just doing a few easy vegetables.

we took on our allotment in september, the hardest thing has been digging it over and keeping on top of weeds. at the start we did a couple of half days to dig it over since then we do maybe an hour most evenings. we probably wouldnt even do that but i was pg when we took it on and dd is now 10 weeks, the weeds got away from us as we barely made it down once a week for the first 6-8 weeks! Could you ask to take on a half plot, our plot is 20x5m, any bigger and I don't think we'd manage, although when the kids are bigger we'd like a bigger plot!

What sort of state is it in? Ours took a while to get going as it had been left alone for some time, so needed a lot of digging and removing before we could get planting. We also don't use chemicals so it takes longer for us (we need to weed more by hand etc).

We LOVE our allotment, it's one of our favourtite places in the world! Yes,it does noeed work, but it's very calming and therapeutic work, and we love the time we soend there. And the veg and fruit is fabulous.

We have onions, cucumber, carrots, spinach, swiss chard, herbs, rasps, strawbs, red currants, blackcurrants, potatoes, blackberries, gooseberries toms and beans in ours at the moment. Oh, and a tiny apple tree with about 9 apples growing on it!

Good luck!!

PS Sorry re typos, I am suppposed to be working, not sneakily being on here, hence quick (and rubbish) typing...

We have an allotment with a big greenhouse on it and it is a lot of work! Good fun but a big commitment. Is there anyone else you could share it with or might they consider splitting it? I think if we had taken half there would still have been plenty of room to grown everything that we wanted!

Hi. I took over my allotment last August. It had been badly neglected and was covered in bindweed and brambles. First thing I did was spend about 2 hours each week for 4-6 weeks (when DCs were in nursery) strimming it down and then putting it under cover (carpet was best). This stopped it getting any worse and gave me the breathing space I needed to weed and dig over small patches at a time, probably spending about 1-1.5 hours per week up to Oct and from March onwards. I've only dug over a quarter of the plot, but I've still managed to plant strawberries, pots, onions, garlic, pumpkins, courgettes and rhubarb. At the moment, I probably do one hour session and a flying 30 minute visit per week to keep on top of it all. I do the longer session when the DCs are at nursery/school, but I can usually keep DS (aged 3) occupied for the shorter visit. In the Autumn and Spring, I aim to dig over another third of the plot. So I wouldn't rule it out, but I would suggest being realistic and doing it all in stages. Best of luck!

It is hard work but well worth it in my opinion! You could ask whoever is in charge of the allotment waiting list if they could contact a few people on the list to see if they fancy sharing a plot with you whilst they are waiting for their own plot.

We have had a full plot since last March. We love it It is a big committment, especially with our 3 children, but they enjoy spening time there too.

My 2 year old ds now knows what a marrow, globe artichoke, and broad beans are, which is the biggest thing for me, he's even started eating veg!

Get it, take it slowly and see if you can get a couple of friends to help out with it.

Ours is a very sociable place, we always have friends dropping in, we try to have a bbq once a week up there, makes weeding easier when you've got a hotdog in your hand! (oh, that sounds a tad rude!