[andreadon]

I'm sorry I've been awol for ages and ages and ages.

That's mainly because I didn't have a garden to speak of (the postage stamp out back is chickened)
But look! I've got an allotment!
a real, £36 a year, piece of land complete with its own bindweed!

[Christine]

Yep that looks to be an interesting winter project - first find you allotment. 

Welcome back. I can almost hear the questions coming. 

[snowdrops]

How exciting. Have fun & slow & steady wins the race 😊

[andyww2013]

Wow, I thought mine was wild when I took it on.  Best of luck

[Aidy]

  Good luck and a very welcome back.

[Fairy Plotmother]

Welcome back!👋🏻👋🏻

[New shoot]

That is going to take some work, but it can be done and it sounds like you have the enthusiasm to make it happen.  Good luck and welcome back 

[juvenal]

First picture is when I first got my allotment...

Spent the dry days over winter working a few hours a day, three days a week. Many a trip to the Council dump..

The result is the second picture!

Best of luck with yours.

[andreadon]

Thank you

Yes, the questions will come soon!
It does need a lot of clearing, but it's got some plants already - rhubarb, asparagus, raspberries. And 2 small apple trees.

The last tenant left some (possibly useless) tools, and 2 of my friends want to help!

I had a quick go on Friday when I got it and it seems quite a lot of it is just bindweed, which means that most of the other weeds come right up!
And i'm allowed a fire to burn it as long as I don't annoy my neighbours

[Aunt Sally]

Welcome back 

As others have said. Slow and Steady gets it done 

[andreadon]

I went to my plot today and found that some of the other plotholders had done some clearing for me.
I was torn with the emotion here - on the one hand I was glad they'd cleared some for me, but on the other hand I was upset that they'd just taken it upon themselves to do stuff on my plot without even telling me.
I did a bit of a "fine but I would have preferred you not to" and put it down to hapless enthusiasm.
I'm sure it hasn't set a precedent, and they are all lovely people that I've met so far.

I have also managed to do some more work today, clearing brambles and bindweed at the bottom end of the plot. And I found the root of all evil (bindweed edition) 

[DHM]

It's annoying whrn people take it upon themselves to 'help' without invitation. When we took our weedy and uneven plot on in may, one of the plot holders nearby offered to do some rotavating for free for us with his Mantis, I said thanks we were going to dig it but would be interested in him doing a small patch with it to see what the effect was as we'd never seen one before and he happily agreed to do it.

The weeks passed and no Mantis was used. We later discovered one of our neighbours had stopped him saying it wasn't suitable for our ground due to its type and condition. We were very angry that someone had taken it upon themselves to take a decision on our plot but decided to let it go on that occasion. Now he's learned that we're doing our own thing despite his numerous suggestions and has backed off a bit but if someone had gone onto our land as they did yours, we'd have felt a bit put out to be honest.

[andreadon]

Blimey!
that's worse than mine.

I think they got the hint - one of them asked if he could burn some of my weeds, and I said he was welcome to do so. He said he didn't want to just do it when i wasn't there.

[Hobovore]

Looks likes a good excuse to buy a scythe and azada...serioulsy get the azada they are fantastic tools that can replace a back busting spade.

[Potterer]

I second that! Buying an Abada/azde is the best thing I’ve done for me and my allotment- it’s brilliant!