One allotment or two?

[Stew]

Well, officially getting those 'old age' markers for my birthday in a couple of weeks, the wife has told me she's getting me a half share in an allotment plot with the mother-in-law.

The wife has always been against me getting one in the past but with the m-in-l getting one, the work can be shared and they would need my help with any heavy parts anyway. It's great for me.

I've been growing bits of veg in the garden for years, slotting in around the pretty plants, where I can.

Now, just found out that we could get a double plot, if we want. I'm not officially allowed to get my own as it's on the in-laws estate and you have to be a resident but wondering if we should plumb for the two versus the one as we can have them next to each other and would still be sharing the workload.

Is it a bad idea for a first time allotment to get two? Too much work at that stage and better to learn on one? There's a total of 4 adults and two kids that would be fed from them.

Oh, and one allotment plot is £25 for the year.

 

[santaman2000]

How big are they? If the total is under half an acre it shouldn't be any problem even if you were alone. If you're in reasonable health.

 

[neoaliphant]

I would, wife would jump at the chance

 

[British Red]

An average allotment is about 300 square yards. You can get a LOT of veg from 300 square yards.

Two allotments is great - about a fifth of an acre.

With that much, I hope you are planning on a rotovator

These beds are 100 square feet - just over 10 square yards. Two allotments is 60 beds that size. I have a quarter tonne of manure on each bed for several years. So 15 tonnes a year for your two allotments (done well).


vb 48 All the beds by British Red, on Flickr

Red

 

[Laurentius]

Depends on the size, I find one allotment is quite enough for me. The committee is now planning to let only half a plot to new allotmenteers owing to the amount of neglect on the site. Watch out if you are not careful you will end up on the committee, that's what happened to me.

 

[Big Si]

Why not start off with one plot and see how you go on. I've had a really bad year with rain, snails, slugs and vandals. If I had two plots I'd have given up by now. Also I use a rotivator for most of the hard work, If you haven't got one for two plots then you'll know about it soon enough.

Si

 

[slowworm]

I think it depends on a number of things. When I grew up we had a large garden and two allotments, no rotorvator and managed traditionally so it can be done. However, are you likely to be able to cultivate two? You don't have to dig them over each year, you could cultivate soft fruit bushes, use no dig beds, keep chooks etc - if allowed.

Depending on area you may not get another chance, I've been on various waiting lists and never got a chance of even half of one after many years. Even if you could get another it'll not be next to your one, which would be a shame.

Would it be possible to get two and give one up after a year if you can't cope?

 

[Everything Mac]

I'm inclined to say get two while you can. I've always understood allotments to be hard to come by at the best of times so grab it while you can.

You could alway just work one for a while and prep the other for the following year. If you find that one gives you plenty of produce then you can give up the second if you think it's too much work.
On the other hand you have the second available to you if you want extra space for a shed or what ever.

All the best

 

[Laurentius]

Why not start off with one plot and see how you go on. I've had a really bad year with rain, snails, slugs and vandals. If I had two plots I'd have given up by now. Also I use a rotivator for most of the hard work, If you haven't got one for two plots then you'll know about it soon enough.

Si

It's been an atrocious year for me too. I started off rather late in the year and needed to spend so much time just clearing it from the neglect it had fallen into, that when I did start planting it could not have been at any worst of times, with rain, hail, and pests. I have been using nothing more than the sweat of my brow and it has been hard to keep any of it in productive cultivation at all. Still next year beckons and I can plan it properly. The allotment next to mine is a complete jungle though, and that is the problem. It does not matter how well you cultivate your allotment, you are at the mercy of the elements and your neighbours. That being said, I have still got enough off it to make it worth while.

 

[Stew]

Depending on area you may not get another chance, I've been on various waiting lists and never got a chance of even half of one after many years. Even if you could get another it'll not be next to your one, which would be a shame.

This is the concern.

If we took two, we would want them next to each other, ideally.

Will be doing a site visit this week so will have a better idea then any way.

Looking at Red's beds, it does look like quite a lot though!!

I'm not toooooooooo concerned about having lots of digging to do. I wonder if it's unnecessary extra space though? I should talk to my old man about it to!

 

[oldtimer]

I had a single allotment when I was working and found it to be a problem. When the weather was right to dig, weed or plant, I was at work and at weekends or holidays the weather was always wrong. I had the best weeds of any allotment and my dandelions won best in show and I made a lot of friends when my weeds spread and airborne seeds landed on well- kept plots. Now I'm retired, I've got my own vegetable garden now, which is about half the size of the average allotment and it keeps us in salads, greens and soft fruit. Now the trouble is that I'm away travelling for long periods- you should have seen the weeds I got this summer- but the neighbours say my veg taste good! I think the trick is to be able to tend it little and often- 20 minutes a day is better than 2 hours at weekends. Is your allotment near enough to visit it most days?

 

[Noddy]

I was chair of our allotment society for a bit - I won't do that agin in a hurry - but I did like allotmenteering a lot otherwise.

Stew, is it a double plot? - if so grab it an let go later if it is too much. If it is just two separate plots just see how one goes, and wait a bit, see what comes up

I found that once you are on the site, you will be higher up the order for choice of plots as they become available.

 

[Stew]

I was chair of our allotment society for a bit - I won't do that agin in a hurry - but I did like allotmenteering a lot otherwise.

Stew, is it a double plot? - if so grab it an let go later if it is too much. If it is just two separate plots just see how one goes, and wait a bit, see what comes up

I found that once you are on the site, you will be higher up the order for choice of plots as they become available.

Double plot mate.

 

[Bowlander]

I cleared, manured and planted 5, 10'x4' beds this spring like I do every year, but this season it was carnage! Ended up sowing green manure on all the plots apart from the spuds- which did well but got blight.

The ducks and chooks got free rein in the end and mullered the molluscs.

I'd get a second plot but be prepared to go for plan b if we have another bad year.

 

[Stew]

Well, we went for two with the agreement that we would decide after a year if it's daft keeping two running (even though we're only going to focus on the one half to start with.


now, if I have this right...

An average allotment is about 300 square yards. You can get a LOT of veg from 300 square yards.

Two allotments is great - about a fifth of an acre.

my two allotments together are roughly around the 300 sq yard mark. Each is approx 10m x 12.5m.

 

[British Red]

They do vary in size - but that still a great amount of space for your family Stew - though not as much as I feared . 300 sq yards is certainly doable. DO let me know if I can help out with seeds

Red

 

[santaman2000]

Is it just me? 300 square yards is only 15 x 20. When I was a kid our kitchen garden was scattered over 4 plots that were well over triple that size each.

 

[Stew]

They do vary in size - but that still a great amount of space for your family Stew - though not as much as I feared . 300 sq yards is certainly doable. DO let me know if I can help out with seeds

Red

I'm sure we could do a bit of seed swapping later.

I'm already grateful to you - just reading back through you setting up and realised we're making a bit of a mistake in the bed orientation! I'll be doing raised beds the same as yourself, to make it easy to be systematic about bed rotation. First few started at the weekend, orientated east-west. As you pointed out and I hadn't thought about, climbers will do a great job at blocking the sun!! Just gotta convince the others to re-orientate before we get the structure down. Hopefully my pictures will help!!

 

[British Red]

Glad it was useful - I find I generally serve as a warning, rather than as an example

 

[Everything Mac]

I've just applied for an allotment...

Maybe I'll get lucky but google suggests I'll be waiting a while.

Cheers