Is it too late to start?

[snapdragon]

questions for you my fellow ISHers
Is it worth joining the growing waiting list for allotments?
Would it be too much for me to manage?
I live on a main road, garden at front, yard at back, would it be safe to grow my veggies in the garden? (with regards to poisons from traffic)
Have I gone doolallly?

I'm 57, generally creaky, to be retired early (redundant) at the end of this month. I don't want to stop work (I shall miss the company and go mad) but it seems there are fewer jobs than ever about these days.

all responses appreciated

[Green Aura]

Get your name on the allotment list, you're not too old at all! In fact you might find a little gentle exercise will oil your joints up a treat. Plus you'll find loads of new friends there.

When you get to the top of the list you can make your mind up if you're still worried you'll not manage. If you're not on the list you can't.

In the meantime, growing in pots and growbags in the back yard will get you in practice.

There's another thread somewhere about front garden veg growing with all the pros and cons.

[invisiblepiper]

Hey! You go for it! - i've just gone freelance with an art qualification finished two years ago - I,m 50 next year and just starting!
50 is the new 30 ( I hope)

[Flo]

Look see snap dragon, the best thing you could do would be to go and put your name on the allotment list. And follow it up regularly to see how you are doing. Go round the local allotments and talk to people there to see if you can share. Work up gently and you will be a lot less creaky after a gentle year of working yourself up. You can do as I do - go down the allotment, work a bit, talk a bit, work a bit more, sit and contemplate a bit and do mental planning.

You can spend the winter searching the internet, borrowing books from the library on gardening and generally learning a lot of background stuff whilst you are waiting.

What's your back yard like with regard to sun, wind, rain, frost, shelter? Can you grow stuff in tubs there? Stuff in your front garden might go away too easily but you could grow herbs in the borders.

[Thomzo]

Why not ask at the allotment site if they know of anybody who'd like to share? If you get a whole allotment to yourself and it turns out to be too much then ask your neighbours if they'd like a bit of extra space. But do get yourself on the list.

In the meantime, as the others have said, start off in pots in the back garden. I front onto a main road and I know how dirty my door and windows get so I wouldn't want to eat anything from there. How bad does yours get? That will give you an idea of the amount of pollution that you suffer.

Go for it.

Zoe

[snapdragon]

thanks for the input

I do stuff in pots in the backyard but although it faces south we back onto an overgrown railway embankment and neigbours have high and solid fences, ergo slug heaven
and no people

[prison break fan]

Never! Put your name down, you can always change your mind. I got an allotment when I retired 3 years ago. It was just a field given to us by the local landowner. It took me a year to dig it by hand! I was quite proud of myself! Now I grow more than enough veg for my family. Mind you, I get a bit cross when people say "are'nt you lucky" when they see me with my harvest. No, I'm not, I just work hard! I'm also creaky with arthritis but I think excercise is good for it! pbf

[Big Al]

questions for you my fellow ISHers
Is it worth joining the growing waiting list for allotments?
Would it be too much for me to manage?
I live on a main road, garden at front, yard at back, would it be safe to grow my veggies in the garden? (with regards to poisons from traffic)
Have I gone doolallly?

I'm 57, generally creaky, to be retired early (redundant) at the end of this month. I don't want to stop work (I shall miss the company and go mad) but it seems there are fewer jobs than ever about these days.

all responses appreciated

By all means get on the waiting list as you don't have to take a plot if you are offered a bad one but personally I think you might have trouble. It's ok if you take over a long standing well cared for plot but take over anything else and generally the only ones available are knacker plots then you will not be up to it. I'm 47 and yes I'm well crapped up physically but I took on a plot, got some help to turn a bit over and 3 weeks later it was a jungle again.

It ripped the heart and soul out of me now i do a little bit in the garden and i don't need to struggle to get to the lottie site even though it was only 200m away.

As for your front garden, take the chance. you can buy washing solutions to wash your veg in prior to eating and these are supposed to remove contaminants and residual pesticides etc but don't forget about planters and raised beds in your back yard.

HTH

Alan

[tiggy]

put your name down, dont have to worry too much about the creaky bit if you go at a sensible pace and the allotment community should produce some new friends and some good advice.maybe you could start with a half plot.nothing ventured nothing gained.Im over 50 and a bit tired round the edges[can no longer swing a 25kg sack of coal onto my shoulder in one go] but I have started growing veggies in odd bits of my garden and plan to do a few more things next season. Have been offered a bit of my friends 2nd allotment and plan to try early spuds so will be asking for advice on here fairly soon.Bits of rough ground can be kept under control by regular mowing or strimming and quite a few weeds will give up the ghost if regularly beheaded so maybe fallow bits could be rough lawns?my dear hubby managed to clear a lot of weeds young sycamores and other undesirables with a mixture of determined mattocking followed up with roundup[glyphosate] to see off the ground elder giving us 4foot by 50 foot of extra back garden and he was wrong side of 65 at the time.But, very important this, he dealt with it in repeated short sessions so as not to get too tatered trying to do too much.Now if you could get a friend to share an allotment with you, well apart from sharing the work and the rewards you can keep each others morale up.

[oldfella]

74 creak like a good un, work in the garden most days and feel great, eat well, drink well, to much probably, arthritis in my hands (can hold a glass ok so, what the hell) and obey the rules for growing old which are as follows
1 Never pass a urinal
2 Never trust a fart
3 Never ignore an erection (it may be your last)
So there you have it, get yourself a lottie and enjoy your retirement, after all its better than working.

[invisiblepiper]

Hee hee... I like your list - can I use it next time I take an art group for OIR? ( Opportunities in Retirement)

[Jandra]

I'd say join the waiting list. Especially if you like the company you'll find at an allotment society. But don't wait: start growing in you back yard right away. Even if it is just a planter with things like rocket, turnip greens and corn salad. If you have a sheltered spot that'll give you something to munch on this winter. I wouldn't worry about safety at the back of your house. Should be just fine.

And look into square foot gardening. You may not want to follow the directions exactly, for filling the raised beds can cost you a fortune with the ingredients they use, but the principles are all right. And you can start of with just one 4'x 4' bed in your back yard and have quite a few veg growing there already.

Have fun! Jandra

[oldfella]

Hee hee... I like your list - can I use it next time I take an art group for OIR? ( Opportunities in Retirement)

Yep, but in return how about designing me a wine label for my home brew,

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm28 ... 010139.jpg

[ina]

Hey! You go for it! - i've just gone freelance with an art qualification finished two years ago - I,m 50 next year and just starting!
50 is the new 30 ( I hope)

Fully agree - I turned 50 this year, and still waiting for life to happen!

Snapdragon, there's only one of your questions I can answer with confidence: No, you have not gone doolally.

Get on that waiting list - if your name doesn't come up for a few years anyway, who knows how you'll feel when it does? So you can't tell NOW in any case. And maybe I would go for a half plot, that way you'd have the best of both worlds.

[jim]

Dear Snapdragon,

Not that I want to encourage corruption, but our allotment committee runs a shop selling seed, compost, fertilizer etc. on a Sunday morning. For the last few years it has been noticed that people on the waiting list who help out there a little and get a round in at the Golden Lion afterwards tend to get an allottment sooner.......

If you're worried about the work involved you can always start with a 5 rod plot instead of a full size 10 rod. If its overgrown divide it into smaller beds and bring a couple in each season until you have the whole thing up and running!

Half the fun of allottments is the chat, gift economy of surplus and mutual aid you'll find there! Have fun!

Love and Peace
Jim