Your plot: cheap and cheerful? Or POSH?

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sunshineband

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Re: Your plot: cheap and cheerful? Or POSH?
« Reply #60 on: November 30, 2011, 17:10 »
Our plot is about to look much posher because there has been a council delivery of woodchip, and I shall be near the fron of the queue at the weekend  :D


Nicely renewed paths always add a je ne sais quoi  :lol:

and free, luckily  ;) :D
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Growster...

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Re: Your plot: cheap and cheerful? Or POSH?
« Reply #61 on: November 30, 2011, 17:42 »
council delivery of woodchip

Now that is posh, wallpapering your allotment shed...

;0)

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sunshineband

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Re: Your plot: cheap and cheerful? Or POSH?
« Reply #62 on: November 30, 2011, 18:14 »
council delivery of woodchip

Now that is posh, wallpapering your allotment shed...

;0)

 :lol: :lol:  Only on the inside Growster  :nowink: :tongue2:

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gavinjconway

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Re: Your plot: cheap and cheerful? Or POSH?
« Reply #63 on: November 30, 2011, 19:09 »
Ian A.... well done  - thats my approach. get as much done for as little money spent.. after-all we grow veg to save money and enjoy the open fresh air!! There's no point of spending a fortune on special raised beds when a few free pallets can do the same job albeit for a lesser time but free pallets are replaceable..
Now a member of the 10 Ton club.... 2013  harvested 588 Kg from 165 sq mt..

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angelavdavis

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Re: Your plot: cheap and cheerful? Or POSH?
« Reply #64 on: November 30, 2011, 23:14 »
I do love making stuff from pallets - there is something very satisfying about getting praised for something - only for you to reveal that you fabric'd it from pallets!  I am currently planning to make a child-sized bench plus gates for my pallet picket fence!

Poundland is also my friend  :)

Growster - I will look you up on google maps!  I think it might be too far for me to cycle to tho' so I think your spare plots are safe from St L invaders for now at least.  The worst thing about the allotment waiting lists in the Hastings area is that the LA closed down two statutory sites in the 80's which are still left abandoned but the official line is that they don't have the funding to pay to repair the fences and put in water, etc to reopen them.  Very frustrating for people on the lists.
Read about my allotment exploits at Ecodolly at plots 37 & 39.  Questions, queries and comments are appreciated at Comment on Ecodolly's exploits on plots 37 & 39

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gavinjconway

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Re: Your plot: cheap and cheerful? Or POSH?
« Reply #65 on: December 01, 2011, 10:04 »
I do love making stuff from pallets - there is something very satisfying about getting praised for something - only for you to reveal that you fabric'd it from pallets!  I am currently planning to make a child-sized bench plus gates for my pallet picket fence!

Poundland is also my friend  :)


 :D  :D

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Growster...

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Re: Your plot: cheap and cheerful? Or POSH?
« Reply #66 on: December 01, 2011, 17:25 »
Be my guest Angela! Our 'Plot' is half the plot on the left (northern/top end, totally covered by weeds etc.) 'Gurgle' Maps got there some time before we attacked it. The 'Patch' (full plot) is across one and down one, and that was even worse, with brambles and all sorts of old rubbish etc at the west end, by the roofless shed...

Funnily enough, 'Bling' maps show some sort of cultivation on the small one, with lots of what look like bourbon biscuits all laid out in a sea of brambles and jungle...

Nearly all gone now though, but definitely not posh!

Is it worth getting HBC to let you and others on the list, just go down to the closed sites, and at least tidy them up? They may jump at the idea, and as for water, we don't have any either, so butts are the norm.

You may be surprised?

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angelavdavis

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Re: Your plot: cheap and cheerful? Or POSH?
« Reply #67 on: December 01, 2011, 22:05 »
Growster: Aah, sounds a great idea (I secretly fancied a bit of guerilla allotment clearing to be honest - it appeals to my militant gardening side!)  but sadly we would apparently fall foul to the 'elf n safety brigade - apparently, their public liability doesn't cover us.  In fact it was suggested we would be trespassing.  I question if this is correct bearing in mind these are statutory sites but I am not going to push it.

I tried to start a Hastings allotment campaign about two years ago.  I approached the local allotment forum for support but they couldn't offer any assistance other than initially letting me know the story with regard to these sites.  I also tried to get the people on the waiting list to contact me so I could raise the profile but almost all except one or two refused to get involved in case they jeopardised their queue position! 

I have even offered to try to apply for grants to get the work done!  I am fairly well practised having successfully got the £10m Heritage Lottery money for the Pier!  My offer was politely declined.

I am instead concentrating on raising the funds to get a composting toilet block installed on our site instead.

Well the rain has finally arrived here with a vengeance!  This reminds me that we must get on with setting up our other water butt and freecycle-sourced guttering for the greenhouse!

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emptydraw

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Re: Your plot: cheap and cheerful? Or POSH?
« Reply #68 on: December 02, 2011, 12:51 »
I dont like to waste money, but there are times when it makes sense so spend some money. We have a rabbit problem on our site. So I decided to use 6ft chestnut stakes driven into the ground, these should last a lot longer than the twigs other people use, so long term will save me time AND money. In my first year we bought brand new fencing and shed and a lot of wood for munty frames and cold frames etc. But managed to source some pallets for the compost bin (a must for any envoronmentally conscious allotmenteer!), also scrounged broken slabs for a path, and plastic sheeting for the cold frames. But by far the most frivolous expenditure was on our netting from a well known online retailer, we bought metres and metres of anti bird, anti butterfly and enviromesh netting, total bill over £140, but hopefully it will last a long time and do the job it was designed for (which its done so far!).

So is it cheap or posh......lets say "Shabby Chic".

Empty.

PS Cake is great, but when the pub is round the corner, I think I'd rather have a beer....I'll save the cake for later!

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Growster...

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Re: Your plot: cheap and cheerful? Or POSH?
« Reply #69 on: December 02, 2011, 16:51 »
"composting toilet block installed on our site instead."

Much better option Angela!

HBC can be so intransigent, but well done you for getting some funding for the pier. I saw 'The Move' there in 1967...;0)

And we always wandered down to 'The Pump House' when we had a few bob...

Happy days, and to keep the thread, nowhere near posh - that was for the restaurants in Claremont all those years ago...

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LilacSandy

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Re: Your plot: cheap and cheerful? Or POSH?
« Reply #70 on: December 03, 2011, 20:38 »
All my tools came from the tip, my compost heaps are made from pallets and my bench also came from the tip.  I will be edging my paths with reclaimed timber as I am fed up with the soil washing over and sticking to my boots. 

My one indulgence is the shed and this is only because I would not have a clue about building one myself.

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Christine

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Re: Your plot: cheap and cheerful? Or POSH?
« Reply #71 on: December 06, 2011, 20:14 »
Mine is productive, passes the two committee inspections each year and definitely isn't posh. It's tidy, doesn't suffer from rows and rows of crops with no flowers anywhere and no weeds but it does look full come August when the second inspection happens.

I can't say that it might never rise to being posh as all spare money has gone into getting the soil back into productive for the last five years. Thing is - there is a large, raised concrete hard standing down the middle so it's never going to be proper posh.

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sunshineband

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Re: Your plot: cheap and cheerful? Or POSH?
« Reply #72 on: December 06, 2011, 20:16 »
How did you end up with concrete down the middle of your plot, Christine?

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Christine

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Re: Your plot: cheap and cheerful? Or POSH?
« Reply #73 on: December 09, 2011, 07:44 »
Erm long ago in the days when the council let cowboys onto the allotments, mine was used as a repair garage facility. Hence the hard standing. Better than the complete Ford Prefect the present secretary found buried on his plot about 35-40 years back I suppose.

There is an allotment association to run things now so legends are fewer. They are more of the nature of someone weeding with sodium chlorate then wondering why nothing grew.

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Growster...

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Re: Your plot: cheap and cheerful? Or POSH?
« Reply #74 on: December 09, 2011, 08:59 »
Erm long ago in the days when the council let cowboys onto the allotments, mine was used as a repair garage facility. Hence the hard standing. Better than the complete Ford Prefect the present secretary found buried on his plot about 35-40 years back I suppose.

There is an allotment association to run things now so legends are fewer. They are more of the nature of someone weeding with sodium chlorate then wondering why nothing grew.

Hoooot!

Hilarious post, can't stop laughing...;0)


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