Hello from central Scotland

revdode · Post: # 50622Post **revdode** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:30 am

Hello, I'm a keen gardener (fruit and veg.) and would be allotmenteer if my council had such things. Land in a town with good commuter links to Edinbugh and Glasgow is apparently for growing houses on.
I'm interested in many environmental issues including, energy, sustainability, relocalisation and permaculture amongst many other things. I've found gardening in the last couple of years to be a challenge due to major pest problems. My daughter is now 3 1/2yo, my son is nearly 2yo, maybe this year I will be able to persuade them that mud has other uses than spreading on themselves.

Annpan · Post: # 50624Post **Annpan** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:42 am

:welcomeish:

Hi, there are not many on here from central scotland. Its great to have another one onboard... enjoy

9ball · Post: # 50626Post **9ball** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 11:06 am

:welcomeish:

Andy Hamilton · Thu Mar 08, 2007 11:11 am

Monty Don was saying on gardeners world the other day that you need to get 6 people together to pester the council about allotment shortages. I don't know if this means you can get an allotment this way or just get the council to listen.

Welcome to the forum.

Shirley · Post: # 50632Post **Shirley** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:00 pm

Hi Revdode

:welcomeish:

Take a look at these links for allotments http://www.fedaga.org.uk/

http://www.sags.org.uk/index.php

It looks like there are allotments out there, but that the waiting lists are VERY long. Still, I guess the sooner you put your name down, the sooner you'll get one, even if it takes a long time.

Do you have any elderly neighbours with land nearby - you could offer to tend their patch for them in return for veggies etc.

Millymollymandy · Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:19 pm

Hello and welcome!

red · Post: # 50642Post **red** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:52 pm

welcome

revdode · Post: # 50645Post **revdode** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:22 pm

Thanks all.

I live in Falkirk. Unfortunately the Council have no allotments available. There is a fair bit of lobbying going on and I'm hopefull that we will change this. The response to my initial contact with the council, now over two years ago, was that they would only consider putting aside land for allotments if it were unsuitable for anything else! We have made some progress since then, although we have a way to go.
Collecting six names seems to get you a response, to get action ideally you need an angle, in our case pressure from a local groups trying to improve diet has helped.

jimmysavill · Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:47 pm

Annpan wrote::welcomeish:

Hi, there are not many on here from central scotland. Its great to have another one onboard... enjoy

I'm a few hours up from you in Enochdhu near Pitlochry.

The country is a beautiful place.

Plenty of peaches.

pskipper · Post: # 50658Post **pskipper** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:06 pm

Welcome

Kirstykbart · Thu Mar 08, 2007 7:43 pm

revdode wrote:Thanks all.

I live in Falkirk. Unfortunately the Council have no allotments available. There is a fair bit of lobbying going on and I'm hopefull that we will change this. The response to my initial contact with the council, now over two years ago, was that they would only consider putting aside land for allotments if it were unsuitable for anything else! We have made some progress since then, although we have a way to go.
Collecting six names seems to get you a response, to get action ideally you need an angle, in our case pressure from a local groups trying to improve diet has helped.

we've just moved from Falkirk, small world eh? I was very upset to find out there were no allotments at all in the whole area, but I was lucky to live on an old farm so had a small amount of land to grow some stuff.

If you're near Bainsford I could tell you the whereabouts of some cherry trees we managed to pick loads from last year!

Kirsty

revdode · Post: # 50694Post **revdode** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:03 pm

Kirstykbart wrote:we've just moved from Falkirk, small world eh? I was very upset to find out there were no allotments at all in the whole area, but I was lucky to live on an old farm so had a small amount of land to grow some stuff.

If you're near Bainsford I could tell you the whereabouts of some cherry trees we managed to pick loads from last year!

Kirsty

As far as I can tell, not being local I live in Bainsford, just off main street. I ahemm liberated plenty of plums last autum and we are still eating apple chutney (old abandoned garden two doors down - shhh) along with brambles. Cherries would be lovely.

Kirstykbart · Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:18 pm

gosh it gets funnier - fancy you being in the same kinda area? Ok if you can get to the footpath that goes along the edge of the River Carron, we used to get to it by walking down carronside st and then go right, about 200 yeards maybe from the opening from that street? And again on the right from the path so not right next to the river. We used to live in the old farm house that you might be able to see (wave to it for me, I miss it

) and from the bottom of the land we had (not much) we could see loads of cherry trees so all in that area. We picked loads last year and all dark cherries that my kids insisted weren't too sour to just eat without cooking. I tried them, but am not too much of a cherry loving person.

Hope all that made sense!

Good luck with getting the council doing stuff anyhow.

PurpleDragon · Fri Mar 09, 2007 11:08 am

Hiya! We move from Kincardine (near Falkirk) about 18 months ago. It's fine down there, but I have to say, I don't miss it. Onuy the shopping sometimes ...

revdode · Post: # 50787Post **revdode** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 9:30 pm

PurpleDragon wrote:Hiya! We move from Kincardine (near Falkirk) about 18 months ago. It's fine down there, but I have to say, I don't miss it. Onuy the shopping sometimes ...

I'm going in the opposite direction, lived in the NE (Montrose) before heading to Dundee to get an education (Pie thats p-e-h) and finally down here when the work dried up. I miss the sea.