Borlotti beans
Over the last ten years or so a phenomenon has taken the garden world by storm. Nobody could have predicted back in the nineties that growing your own fruit and vegetables would be so big. With so many magazines and books devoted to the subject it’s hard to remember what gardening was like before. Of course, there were people growing their own before it became the trendy thing to do, then, for a whole host of reasons, a new generation was inspired to pick up their trowels and start growing. The problem with anything that becomes trendy though is that it can fall out of fashion just as quickly.
I’ve been wondering about the whole grow your own thing for a while now and whether the bubble has burst. I loved gardening before it became fashionable. I was an incredibly uncool teenager who watched Gardener’s World on a Friday night. As growing veg surged in popularity I was moving around the country from rented house to rented house with no garden to call my own, and with the urge to grow and put down roots of the plant kind getting stronger by the day. When we finally settled in one place it was no surprise to us that there was a waiting list for allotments in our village. Why wouldn’t there be, everyone wanted an allotment. We were lucky, it didn’t take long for us to get a plot but my experience there suggests that the enthusiasm for growing your own food has waned.
The last few weekends when we’ve had dry and even sunny weather, Wellyman and I have been the only people at the allotments. This is the perfect chance to get the allotment ship-shape before growing gets under way. Most tenants are retired and tend to go to the allotment on weekdays. The newest plotholder is a lovely man in his seventies and these guys really do look after their allotments but they were all gardening and growing food long before the recent resurgence. What we don’t seem to have any of are families and those younger people who were meant to have been excited by the idea of growing heirloom carrots and tending a compost heap. They have been there. My neighbour loved River Cottage and the idea of providing fresh and tasty food for her family but, in the end, other commitments were more pressing and she has given up her plot.
I’m lucky, because I work from home I can generally find an hour or so during the day to pop up to the allotment. If it has been wet for days and days and then there’s a dry spell I have the advantage of being able to go and get jobs done. But it has got me thinking, is it possible to manage an allotment when you work full-time and have other responsibilities or are allotments mainly the preserve of the retired? Has the generation swept up by the ideas of their own bit of the ‘good life’ realised that juggling jobs, families and other demands on their time aren’t compatible with maintaining an allotment.
Alan Titchmarsh wrote recently about the accusation that TV gardeners have made the whole subject appear too easy and have lulled a whole group of people into a false idea of just how much work is actually required. Unsurprisingly he disagrees. He believes it has more to do with people being used to instant gratification and not being able to see things through. This is an opinion shared by many on my allotment site who have seen people come and go. Certainly when it comes to cooking, if you look at the vast numbers of recipe books sold every year and the almost wall to wall food programmes you’d think we’d have a better relationship with what we eat. And yet it seems many watch these programmes whilst eating ready meals. Perhaps growing your own is going this way too. The idea is very lovely but the effort required not so. There is no denying though that modern life has become much more demanding. The idea we would work a three or four-day week and that technology would liberate us has never materialised. Plotholders do have the option of taking on really small plots on our site but even this hasn’t been enough to make them more manageable.
Squash flower
It was decided recently to set up a committee to liaise with the council and to try to improve the management of the allotments. The idea was to work towards establishing an allotment association. Unfortunately it was a struggle to get four people to be on the initial committee. I put my hand up and looked around at the sea of faces, no one wanting to make eye contact, hoping others would volunteer themselves. The idea that there would be enough enthusiasm and drive to become a self-managing site is rapidly diminishing. The dilemma for my village’s allotments is that we can’t attract and then keep younger plotholders and the older tenants generally aren’t interested in trying to inject some vibrancy into the place. They really want the site to stay as it is. My other allotment neighbour is 82 and said to me the other day ‘I’m not that fussed about the plot this year, my knees are giving me grief but it gets me out of the house’.
I don’t know about you but it all makes my heart sink. I’d love it if there were people who wanted to put up a polytunnel and introduce an allotment show but ideas like this are greeted with complaints about people trying to change things. It will certainly be an interesting year for my village allotment. I’d love to hear your thoughts. What does your site do to attract and keep new tenants?
wellywoman 
Alan Titchmarsh has a point when saying the TV programmes make growing veg look easy. I’m not an allotment grower but tried growing veg at home and was put off after the second wet, dismal summer of failed crops. I suspect things might be different in an allotment but they call for commitment and that’s one thing I suspect the younger generation isn’t willing to give.
Hi Christine, Last summer was a bad year on the plot for most people and it is a hard slog when you’re battling the elements and slugs. If it’s a hobby then it’s meant to be enjoyable and I don’t think it was for many people last year. I think there are many reasons why individuals lose interest. If I worked 9 to 5 away from home I think I’d struggle to look after it.
I can’t comment from experience of having a plot as we are lucky enough to have an area of our garden devoted to veggies and fruit. My daughter and her family however live in Bristol and took on a plot just at the end of their road. After a year they gave it up as they just didn’t have time with all the activities the children are involved in. It was such a shame that the badgers came and ate all their sweetcorn and other veg, but they grew very disheartened.
It can be so disheartening. I really feel for your daughter. So far, slugs and birds are the worst I have had to cope with.
I understand the problem exactly, I love growing vegetables and enjoy the challenge of having something to eat from the garden almost every week. But honestly if I didn’t love doing it, is it worth it. Financially actually I’m not sure, it depends what you calculate in; if I included my time even at minimum wage rates I don’t htink it would be worth it, heating if you grow from seed, water if you pay by a meter or like me have a pump that lifts the water from a well – electricity is expensive here! Okay I don’t use the car to go to the shops so that’s a saving but there are other things I have to buy so its not as if I don’t drive at all. Then there’s the fact that vegetables need a lot of time, to sow, to plant, to tie-in (maybe) to harvest them. I don’t take holidays for most of the year because I need to be on hand; If I worked full time I don’t think it would be possible. I would agree that gardening programmes often do make things seem easier than they are, it isn’t surprising that people give up. If you don’t love doing it then I think you’d be better to find a good farmer’s market and support that. Sorry to sound negative but I think that is the truth. Maybe allotments aren’t the answer for most people – perhaps some kind joint venture with others would be better. Share the space, share the crops, share the work. Christina
It is time consuming and certainly the finances don’t always add up. Although growing soft fruit is one way to make an allotment pay. We have to tailor our holidays around the plot and seed sowing etc which can be a little frustrating but I still love it. If it’s a hobby I guess the problem is when you stop enjoying it because of the weather and the pests. I think last year’s bad weather here really put people off. I’m sure a few nice summers and the idea of being outdoors and growing would become more appealing again. How likely that is now with climate change I don’t know. WW
Before we moved I too had a village allotment plot and it was a very similar story to yours. I had to wait for 2 years for a plot, and got one that was very over grown. I had it for 2 years before we moved, and fil decided he wouldn’t have time for it. Jut as well since he has barely been in the village what with one thing or another for the past 6 months. Anyway, by the time I left all the younger people who has started with such enthusiasm had given up and there were eight plots up for grabs, about a third. The troupers were mostly retired, plus a small number of people who worked from home or part time or who were just fanatical. I think people fall love with the idea but don’t really appreciate the work and the organisation needed to keep even half a plot 0 which is what I had – productive. Having said that, people I know who live in the city are part of vibrant allotment sites who run competitions, have regular socials, and are full of kids. Larger and more varied population to draw from? or maybe people with kids spend all their time ferrying said kids around to after school clubs or friends houses.
I certainly think city plots are more vibrant and I agree it is probably because the population is more varied. I did know someone who was struggling to maintain an allotment but had joined the gym. It didn’t seem to make any sense to me. I think there are many more demands on people but sometimes they are of our choosing.
Sadly, I have to agree with you. The community venture on my patch wanted for enough volunteers within a year; 5 years on, there’s only really me keeping it going and the real “allotment” spaces on the estate have nearly all been turfed over to be used only in the summer, for sitting out not gardening. Who knows what’s putting people off – and I wonder if there was really that many people interested in food growing in the past? Reading about the history of allotments, it seems that take up of growing spaces has always waxed and waned – presumably as folk became better off, there was no need to have an ‘allotment for the poor’. Let’s just hope that introducing gardening to the school curriculum generates a new wave of interest.
It’s sad isn’t it. It must have been hard for you when you’re so passionate to see everyone else fade away from the garden. I feel like that when I see new people get a plot and I get excited that someone else loves the same thing as I do but then I gradually realise that they don’t when I don’t see them for months. I do think there is a slightly rose-tinted view of gardening and then when people do it they realise it is hard work. For those of us who love it though that hard work is just part of it and enjoyable in itself. The satisfaction at the end of a hard day’s gardening when I can’t get off the sofa because I’m so tired is brilliant. Sounds quite masochistic that. It’s great to hear that gardening is to be on the national curriculum. About time. Hopefully they will combine it with the cooking classes and get a generation of children who understand food, nutrition and the environment.
Reading some of the comments above has made me think that perhaps urban allotments are more well used because of the cultural diversity. Certainly I’ve found there is a stronger interest in growing food from other cultures and I’ve read that the women in particular will try and grow the foods that they would grow back in their own countries. I rather like that. (And yes, it is very disheartening to see so many of my original group trail off but each to their own. I’m more than happy pottering around on my own and completely forget that I’m overlooked by about 60 flats!)
It’s good to hear that you love what you do. I know what you mean about becoming so absorbed in what you’re doing and forgetting what is going on around you. I agree about the cultural link. It’s strange how in our culture growing and allotments were really the place for men and yet in other cultures this is the opposite. My village and allotments are certainly not ethnically diverse. I think being English on a Welsh allotment is as diverse as it gets here. 😉
It sounds as if the committee will be hard going – I shall be interested to read about your progress (or lack of it!)
Probably. I don’t really like being on committees and I’m pretty short on time this year anyway but I believe in allotments so felt I should try to do something. I’ll keep you posted. 😉
I don’t think the grow your own trend has waned in our area. Our allotment sites (we have four nearby) still have long waiting lists, and people are only too happy to get to the top of the list, though how happy they’ll be when they see what they’ve got to clear from the plot which has just become vacant on my site remains to be seen.
That’s good to hear, Jo. I’ve often thought it doesn’t seem right to give people an overgrown plot. It isn’t the best of starts or source of encouragement to new plot holders.
Really interesting post. My daughter and son in law have had two allotments for about four years now and have worked their cotton socks off and loved it. Now they have a small child and my daughter is working loopily long hours for four days to have a supposed fifth day off. Son in law is run off his feet. They are guilty as hell about the state of the allotments and wondering if they should stop trying to keep one of them going. All of which is to say that allotments take time and maybe time is no problem for your 80 year olds but it is for young families. We should be honest about this.
Thank you, I agree and think it’s best to be honest about how much time you can devote to something and whether you are prepared to not have holidays at certain times of year etc. I’d much rather that people who were finding it hard to manage a plot chatted with others to see if there was a way of keeping going or admitted they should give them up. The real problem is plots that remain untended for years with people holding on to them. When they do finally give them up they are in such a terrible state that it’s difficult for anyone new to take them on and so the cycle starts again.
It always surprises me that the place seems so empty.
TV gardeners are usually working to a relatively small frame and if they inspire viewers then most make-overs are easily achievable and can enhance lives.
The flaw, perhaps, in vegetable growing programmes is that they rarely stress the need to practice the ‘hobby’ and how weather,weeds, badgers and pigeons can thwart the best intentions. There’s a lot to learn in terms of techniques but the plus is that most vegetables are annual so each year you can improve on past experience. And as a hobby it is relatively inexpensive and it gives exercise in the fresh air.
Yes as a culture we are attracted to instant gratification but I believe that increasingly people are aware of issues like the source of supermarket produce and transport miles.
My allotment is now only renting half plots to newcomers. I think this is the key to getting people involved and maintaining their interest.
Thanks Sue. I agree. Certainly veg growing is a long term thing and you do need to read and learn techniques. I guess it’s like many hobbies, you give it a go but you don’t always find something you want to keep on doing. When you see the sun shining over River Cottage and Hugh FW wandering out to pick some beans it’s such a gorgeous scene that it’s no real surprise that people are seduced by it. Reality though is somewhat different. People often have breaks from hobbies to fit in other things in life but then take them up again at another stage in their lives. Hopefully with gardening being on the national curriculum now a new generation of children will get the growing bug.
I’m lucky enough to be able to have a vegetable patch at the end of our garden and I also have the added benefit of the school vegetable garden to work in as well, so I’ve never experienced Allotment life.
Recently, however, I’ve read several accounts about life on an allotment and having finished reading your account, i do wonder if you have, to a large part, answered your own question in your last couple of paragraphs. It is quite possibly the resistance to change that is keeping youngsters and families away, or driving them away if they do actually take on an allotment.
I’m not saying it’s the whole reason but certainly a contributing factor. if your available free time is precious, then the quality of that free time becomes important. So if a young couple or family, become allotmenteers in an effort to spend quality time together, whilst growing their own food but their visits to their patch are marred by the disapproval of long-term/established tenants, then is it surprising when they decided to give in and go find something less stressful to do.
New comers should, in an ideal world, be welcomed and their modern ideas embraced, or at least accepted as their free choice and then maybe, the hard work needed to maintain an allotment would be considered a worthwhile use of what spare time these budding growers have.
As I say, I don’t have an allotment and my thoughts are based on what I have read in recent months but, to an outsider looking in, this unwillingness to change has to account for some of the decline, surely?
Thank you for your comment. I’m sure there is something in what you say. I think it’s exaggerated on our site because it’s very small and younger people are in the tiny minority. I think time is an important issue and I certainly think I’d struggle if I wasn’t able to get up during the week. Maybe a more community led approach is the way forward, although that in itself has inherent problems of people resenting others for not doing their fair share. Ah the joys of human nature. 😉
I have recently taken over a plot at some of the oldest allotments in the country, after a five-year wait. There are several young families gardening there, and some of them have been there for a while. It will be interesting to see how we all do, and how long we all last. I am struggling with the idea of finding time as I must return to work after having children, but it is something I have wanted to do for so long that I am determined to find the time, even if it means most of the work is done in the evenings. Our plots have an open day every year for the NGS open garden scheme, with tea and homemade cakes, storytelling and produce for sale. But the allotments are so oversubscribed they don’t really need to advertise.
Good luck Claire. I hope we get some lovely weather this year. If you like fruit they are a great thing to grow, as they take up a degree of space and don’t need too much care and that leaves you with a bit less space for everything else which can make things feel much less daunting. Soft fruit are also one of those crops where you do save money. There is the initial layout but organic fruit is expensive to buy and once you’re picking raspberries and blueberries it will make it feel like the hard work is worth it. WW
It’s probably a combination of many things. If one has never done it before, starting a plot and growing one’s own is a lot of sometimes very frustrating work. Some person who writes about gardening in a newspaper, a couple of years ago wrote that growing veg is really easy, you just put a seed in the ground and watch the plant grow. Well, it doesn’t often work that way, does it. I love my veg patch, but do often get extremely frustrated when the slugs have, again, demolished lots of things, to the extent where I tell my husband that I’ve had enough. The not-having-time aspect to me it a question of priorities – if Cleve West who is a very busy person can have a large allotment then others could manage a small one, if they were interested enough. Of course, running into stiff resistance to change probably also puts some people off.
Thanks Helle, It can be so frustrating can’t it. There are times when I’ve wondered what I’m doing generally when I’m battling slugs. 😉 Have you read Cleve West’s book Our Plot. It’s very inspiring that he finds time to manage such large plots.
I recently read Cleve West’s book, now I also suffer from “threat envy” 😉
Shed envy!! Sorry about that.
I know what you mean. It’s one of my favourite books.
What an interesting post. I’m not an allotment holder myself but I do grow a lot fo veg and have for years.
Several of my friends have started growing in the last few years and they have almost all given up. One had the impression that a couple of potato plants in containers would a) be really easy (OK, not that far off) and b) provide enough spuds for her family of three all summer (excuse ME?) and c) therefore save her lots of money (???). She had got this impression quite clearly from the television, though she wasn’t specific about which TV gardener had influenced her. I didn’t quite know what to say as I listened to her complaints…
Thanks Kate. 🙂 That does make me chuckle, although it is also a tad worrying at the same time. A lady who has just taken on the vacant plot next to me used to have a plot on the other site. Apparently it was a dreadful mess. She told one person that she thought once she had cleared it of its initial weeds that would be all the weeding she would need to do. It is remarkable people have these ideas and rather frustrating that I’ve just seen one person leave the plot next to me in an awful state for someone else to take it on who sounds just as bad. *sighs*
A thought provoking post which I agree, and partly sympathise, with.
I will comment more fully over the weekend. xx
Hi This revolution comes around every 10 years or so ,I remember rushing off to live in Cornwall to be self self-sufficient in the 70s and again the 80s only Wales that time It starts off with an allotment then you think you really must own some land and do it on a bigger scale John Seymour has a lot to answer for .But great fun while it lasts . Love your blog cheers Joan
Thanks Joan that’s really kind of you to say you love the blog. 🙂 I’m sure there is something in it coming in waves of popularity. There will always be a committed group who are always growing but others will come and go. WW
Hey WW, great post.
I’m really beginning to believe that smaller, manageable size plots are the way forward. A full size allotment is brilliant, but it is a commitment, and requires a lot more time than people first think.
Smaller plots allow beginners to cut their teeth, see what commitment is requires and genuinely have successful crops because there is less work to do. 5 good crops are much better for morale than 10 average to poor ones.
At our allotment plots, there is a new committee and they are trying hard. They have given the really overgrown plots to people for free this year. I think volunteering days would be good too, where groups get together to help beginners get the soil etc in good shape for the season. Preparation really is key to a good year, and I think lots of people fall at this first hurdle and become dissillusioned.
Hi Jono, Thanks for the comment. I agree. I think it’s unfair to give new people overgrown plots as they spend so much time getting them into shape and sometimes miss the first part of the growing season then which can be so demoralising. Unfortunately even the small plots on our site weren’t enough to keep some of the other younger plot holders. WW
I agree that there is almost certainly an element of wanting instant gratification but I think also that for beginners growing can be hard, so many things that can go wrong, so much to learn. What you said about the 82 year old who didn’t think he could do much this year made me wonder whether a scheme of plot sharing between the old, experienced allotmenteers and the beginners could benefit both. The beginners
would learn so much and gain in confidence, the older ones would have help with the harder work that they now find difficult and would not have the sadness of watching their plot deteriorate.
Hi Gilly, That would be a lovely idea. I think people are working so hard though that time is the key. It would be nice to get people working together more. I’m hopeful we can foster a bit more of that over the coming year. Thanks for the comment. 🙂 WW
A thought provoking post, and plenty of good comments in response.
I feel that much as we, as a nation, like watching TV programmes, on cooking, gardening and football we’re not so keen on getting off our backsides and doing any of them. That’s borne out by the fact that we’re now the most obese, and least healthiest, country in Europe. Too many people want it all done for them and are simply not prepared to make much, if any, effort themselves. Those of us who do are clearly in a minority.
I sympathise about the lack of volunteers but that’s an all too familiar comment. We struggle to find people to help out for just two hours every five weeks!
Like you my heart sinks at times. xx
Thanks Flighty. I think food is too easy to come by now for so many of us. The physical exertion required to grow your own burns off calories before you’ve even eaten. WW x
There is no way I have time in my life for an allotment and a garden. I don’t get home until 7, then I eat something, do a quick survey of the garden, feed and water (I have a lot of containers) and then it’s nearly dark. However those that do have an allotment around here in the city do seem to make use of them. Not sure how anyone im London has time but people seem to make it happen. I agree that growing veg can be more expensive than it seems, especially if you’re using containers in small spaces. Once you’ve bought the seeds, compost and container, well you’ve paid nearly a tenner for a bag of carrots! Having said that, I will still try and grow a bit of veg in my garden this year as it tastes nicer.
Growing veg in containers isn’t a cheap thing to do, I agree. I have to admit my garden suffered a little last year from neglect. Once summer gets going it has to fend for itself as I’ve got my work cut out with the plot.
I don’t think that the revolution is over WW well at least not in my neck of the woods. I have not been able to get to the allotment much recently as I have been away from home looking after a rather poorly elderly mother 😦 However I am keeping in touch with what’s going on there and we have an influx of keen new tenants (partly as a result of rent increases and subsequent departures) including a good number of young families with children. That in turn can bring its own problems but I think that each generation can offer its own perspective and contribution to the allotment community.
Hi Anna, It’s good to hear that about the allotments. Hopefully we’ll have a better year with the weather and that will give the new tenants some confidence. Sorry to hear your mum isn’t well. Hope you’re getting a chance to look after yourself too. It can be a very stressful time. Best wishes, WW. x
Another thought provoking post and it has initiated some great discussion. I agree in some ways that the media do make it look easy, they don’t emphasise all the hard work that goes into having an allotment. As some of the other commenters have suggested it is very rarely money-saving you have to enjoy doing it. I’m part of an allotment site which is quite a mixture of people, some old-timers, who tend to go in the week so I don’t always see them and then there are a few new people. I tend to go over the weekends and late into the evening in the summer and I do find that is is often quieter then. But there seems to be a keenness to help people get started here. Some people are given smaller plots and some have been given help with their plots and offered the use of strimmers and other tools. Especially if the people are keen but struggle with time there has to be a bit of give and take. We only started a committee last year and we were quite active last year but we will see how much interest we have this year. But it does help to have a very proactive site secretary, who actual lives in a house backing onto the site, so he often goes out to chat to people round the plots at all times of day. Many people on my site grow to show and are quite competitive so maybe thats why it is quite an active site, but it is still friendly and I recognise that you have to make an effort to get some things up and running which I can imagine is so much harder on a smaller site.
Hi Annie, I think there is a reserve with people on our site. I went up to people and introduced myself but others are reluctant to do that and have felt a bit intimidated by the older more experienced growers which is a real pity. Most people are friendly and want to help. But there is an attitude amongst some, a ‘they won’t last’ attitude which is a bit off-putting when you’re new. I had it but it just spurred me on to prove that I could do it.
Here in north-west Ireland there is still a hard core group of dedicated gardeners, myself included. I would not think my life complete if I did not have a garden. The revolution continues!! Long live the revolution!!
Hi Bridget, 🙂 I’m pleased to hear that. I think it does with many it’s just those on the peripheries that come and go.
Hello Wellywoman! What an interesting post. I can totally identify with you growing up watching Gardeners World on a Friday night! I too have noticed less people up at our allotments, but actually we both love it when there’s nobody up there. I feel that some of the allotment folk are just in it for the ‘show’ factor. Their veg lies rotting and it’s more about the straightness of their raised beds than what they grow. I wonder if they actually eat any of their produce. Aside from those types we have the new plot couple who’ve done really well, one young girl who’s mad keen and there all the time apart from just recently and the others are older and retired and know exactly what they’re doing. So personally, I like it when I have the allotment to myself but I do love being with the people who are genuinely keen. I actually get a lot of people asking about my allotment and I work with a load of young ‘kids’ as I call them who are really into the cooking element – i.e. using the fresh produce. Gen Y are really into organics and good food, but don’t seem to know too much about gardening. I think people do want good food and want to source it locally and know where it’s from, but aren’t always that keen on growing it themselves. I think more and more genuine people will come along soon and get into growing though, we’re at the stage where the people who took them on for show are filtering out. I say good riddance to them, I’ll be glad when they make way for the people who really want the plots for genuine reasons.
Hi Anna, Not just me then that watched GW. 😉 You seem to have a good mix of different people at your allotments. Ours is a very small rural site so I think it suffers a little because of that. Good to hear there are some younger growers there too. I agree that those who took on an allotment because it was trendy certainly seem to be disappearing. Hopefully there are others who will want to take them on for the long term. WW
Ooh what a lot of comments! This is a great post. Gardening is in my blood and I spent much of my childhood watching my dad in the garden. We’ve just taken an allotment and we have young children. We waited on the list for two years before getting our plot. There are several overgrown plots at our site. It makes me sad because other gardeners are still waiting. Our plot was in a sorry state not having been worked in years. Sorry I’m rambling, but yes there are families with young children wanting to grow our own but I know some people give up waiting and find other sites or methods for veg growing. And, chances are, some families move on to other interests as their children become focused on sport or the digital lifestyle, having outgrown the stage when the whole family might enjoy gardening. Thanks for such a thought provoking post!
Hi Josie and thank you. I really hope we get some good weather this year for your first year on your plot. There are so many more distractions and demands on our time these days but it is amazing to give kids the chance to learn about plants and growing. It’s so fascinating and we need to inspire a new generation of people who will care for the planet when they grow up. Happy growing x
I’m also an allotment newbie with young children, in London. This is such an interesting post as I’m wondering what I’ve let myself in for! I took a full plot as all the smaller ones available were either completely overgrown or very boggy. The site is huge and v active, which is good. I was on the waiting list for 7 years (!) so wanted to grab the opportunity. There were three of us looking at new plots when I went, all young-ish (30s). We home educate so have less restrictions on our time, and will hopefully be great for the kids. Am now frantically reading everything I can, including of course your blog which is gorgeous 🙂
Hi Clare, Oh I hope my post hasn’t put you off. Your bigger plot, if it was in a better state and has better growing conditions, will probably be easier to manage than the smaller plots. It can be a bit of a struggle if you’re battling a weed ridden plot from the very start. An allotment will be such a great place to use as an outdoor classroom for your children. If I could give two tips that have made my plot more manageable it would be try to put in some paths, dividing your plot into separate beds. It means you don’t have to walk on the soil which is so important when it has been wet. It’ll be good to have defined growing spaces for the children so they aren’t walking on newly sown seeds or young plants. Don’t make the beds any wider than 1.2 metres wide. This means you can comfortably lean over to the middle without stretching too much and aren’t tempted to stand on the soil. If you put weed membrane down for the paths and cover with chipped bark it reduces the area you need to weed so you can focus on weeding just the beds. And the other tip is keep on top of the weeds. A little and often is much better than leaving them for a month and then just feeling overwhelmed by the job of getting rid of them. Have fun growing and thanks for the lovely compliment. 🙂