[New shoot]

.... the council use to be obliged to rotavate and leave for the next tenant    jezza

Not many councils do that any more, I'm sorry to say. Ours doesn't, and if you look in the diaries most first pictures show some really overgrown plots

Our council got rid of their rotavator and now have a tractor that pulls a plough.  That works on their biggest site as it is very open with proper access roads you can drive down.  For all the smaller sites in Reading it is useless as they can’t get to the plots to clear them.  Added to that, it seems to take 6-12 months between someone leaving a plot and it getting offered to a new person.  It is really not fair on the poor newbies at all 

The council here are in the process of trying to get the sites onto a more self-managed footing, but tbh, we as tenants on our site are more organised than them.  They always have been difficult to get hold of, but with COVID, it is pretty much impossible.  It is very much being used as an excuse to do not much of anything 

[snowdrops]

Our Parish Council have you pay a deposit of £50 that you forfeit if you leave your plot in a mess, but it appears even when that happens, they don’t come & clear it ( I assume they keep the money though!) then the new tenant doesn’t pay rent for the first year if it’s in a really bad way & then have real difficulty getting the council to come & collect the rubbish they’ve stacked at the end of  the plot! I think in truth the £50 isn’t enough theses days with skip hire being so expensive. Really don’t know what the answer is.

[Welsh Merf]

I have had an update!

According to the Chairman of Lydd Allotments - a good friend of mine, who I spoke with this morning, I am second on the list, and two or three plots maybe become available in the next month.

However, my old plot was one of those coming up, and knowing it as well as I do, with half the topsoil having been removed, and packed with stones and crushed tiles, I said that I didn't want it, and that I'd rather wait longer and get a half-decent one. Beggars can't be choosers as they say, but I'm not in the begging category just yet. Luckily, time is on my side . . . at the moment!

[Welsh Merf]

I'm trying something posh and modern . . . . bear with!

[Welsh Merf]

Hopefully, if you can see a picture, I have the nearest half since this afternoon, and will be getting the upper half within a month or so. 250 square metres = 10 perch. Please someone let me know if the photo thingy doesn't happen!

Ta.
Merf.

[Welsh Merf]

Now, how do I turn the picture the right way round? It was the right way round when I posted it?

[greenjay]

congrats on the plot. is this the plot you had your eye on?
 looks like you will be busy clearing and discovering!
hope the ground is in good heart.

[Aunt Sally]

I don’t think it can be turned.  Forum only displays landscape picture format. 

And that certainly is a landscape.  Plenty of work for you Merf.  I would skim the grass and weeds off as a turf and stack it in the corner upside down, covered with black polythene, for a year or so.  It will make fine compost to enrich your soil.

[Welsh Merf]

I don’t think it can be turned.  Forum only displays landscape picture format. 

And that certainly is a landscape.  Plenty of work for you Merf.  I would skim the grass and weeds off as a turf and stack it in the corner upside down, covered with black polythene, for a year or so.  It will make fine compost to enrich your soil.

Luckily, it was only turned over last year, so nothing will be too deep-rooted, and the soil underneath looks lovely. And thanks for answering my photo question!

Merf.

[GraciesGran]

I have been persuaded/pressganged  onto our committee to even up the male/female split.  Although most plot holders are male there are quite a few of us pesky women and they want the committee to represent that.  I have also reduced the average age, which given I'm 69 shows you how old the others are.  So far it's been ok, covid seems to have focused everyone's attention on what's really important.

[snowdrops]

Great result Merf, that’s your retirement sorted then lol.
Be careful Graciesgran, I joined the committee when I retired & now I’m chairwoman lol .Actually I quite enjoy it, the position was vacant for a year & we were beginning to flounder a bit so offered to take on the role just before Covid hit 

Just reread this & I should make it clear I’m chair of the  gardening club that has not nothing to do with the allotments where I have a plot, they are run by the Parish Council

[rowlandwells]

Hi Merf unfortunately this is common place in some areas when people decide to just walk away from there plot and leave somebody ells to clear up there mess and by the time the council or any other parties get involved its to late

it seems the bigger the local authority the more inefficient they become dealing with  allotments as its a low priority its very sad when there are people crying out for allotments our allotments landlord the parish council have a dedicated rep who looks after both the allotments and the cemetery so any allotment holders not cultivated the plot get a letter to ask them if they still wish to rent the plot as there is a waiting list for any spare plots

I think it worth considering joining the allotments committee well at least you could have you say and try to improve things and politics should never come into play allotments are there for everyone in the community who wants to grow veg or home use and its a necessity for such committee's to have a say in the running of there allotments

[Welsh Merf]

I joined the allotments association (not committee) yesterday. It has absolutely nothing at all to with the fact that the chairman, and deputy chairman are an old friends of mine