This is the place to discuss not just allotments but all general gardening problems and queries which don't fit into the specific categories below.
(formerly allotments and tips, hints and problems)
Invoice arrived at the weekend, it's gone up to £52 a year. Massive price hike. (Was only thirty something last year.) Phoned the council department and the bloke sounded as cheesed off as me, obviously dealing with a lot of complaints, all concessions cancelled too, this is going to put many people off, perhaps that's the point.
Rates seem to vary wildly accross the country depending on land value and the facilites at the site. Councils are also under pressure to break even on allotments as with other services and can no longer subsidise the cost of running them, so prices are generally on the up I'm afraid.
Still cheaper than the gym and hopefully you can have a chat and a bit of fun with the other plotholders!
Terri x
“I'd rather be a little weird than all boring.”
― Rebecca McKinsey
We've just got a raised bed (23 ft long by 4 ft wide, and 2.5 ft high) at the community garden, and that's £52.00 a year, so don't feel too hard done by.
I'm not wanting to sound mean here, but I'd been on the allotment list up here for 6 years, and I'm still nowhere near the front of the list - hundreds of thousands of people are in the same situation, so just be thankful you've got one at all!
Mind you, we do get the use of the polytunnels and potting shed / subsidised shop / toilet / tea and coffee facilities for that too. Ours isn't a council thing, though, it's a community project mostly funded by the Climate Challenge Fund, but we do have to charge so much to cover our insurance as we need to cover volunteers for the garden as well as just the 'structures', IYSWIM.
As another poster said, that's only £1.00 a week for a wonderful resource that so many people would be delighted to pay double for, be thankful! All the councils are struggling at the moment, it's understandable that they need recoup money from somewhere. Your overall savings from growing your own instead of buying it still far outweigh the price increase.
I took my dog to play frisbee. She was useless. I think I need a flatter dog.
Mine seems to have been quite cheap, 42 quid for the rent, then 50 to keep the shed and the greenhouse that belonged to the last person. Still works out at less than £2 a week to have it.
England is not a Free People, till the Poor that have no Land, have a free allowance to dig and labour the Commons.
i think allotments are a good deal i dont smoke or drink but if a person smoked 20 fags a week thats got to be nr a fiver so thats 260 and say some one drank two beers or a bottle of wine a week thats say four quid thats 228 or say someone spent a fiver a week on the gees gees thats 260 and your have nothing to show for it esp the top 2 also if you look at broad beans i have 120 plants say they yield 2lb per plant thats 240lb of beans incl pods in the shops say there a quid a pound thats 240 quid thats one item which has paid for your allotment seeds and maybe some barbeques too so you can see its good vlaue i thinkso too.
We had a very large plot in a town before we moved,and we paid £20 per year for our allotment,which was extremely cheap.Now we have moved to a house with a much bigger garden,and it was a wrench to give up the allotment,but it would be going to someone who was desparate to start growing,and I know the waiting list was a long one.
hello ishers long time no speak,
me & my wife have just taken on 2 5m x 15 m plots rent is £2.75 a week each,
this is on farm land off the farmer not via council,
water is on site and as the bottom bit gets boggy there may be space to rent for chickens.
rent wise may seem dear but my gardens taken up with childrens stuff.
it was rotavatored 2-3 years ago and once the grass is taken off the soils nice apart from the occasional bracken root .