One of the best advantages of holding an allotment plot for me is the community aspect. Socially, it has opened up a whole new circle of friends outside of work. When you move to a new town purely for work, you quickly find that the only people you get to know even remotely well are your work colleagues. We moved to our town over 20 years ago, and getting involved in other interests has been key when making new friends.
Having an allotment plot not only gives you all the joys of growing and providing for yourselves, but it also means that you become a member of a society in our case. Over the last 2 years, our society has made us feel incredibly welcome, and with the start of organised social get togethers during the summer, we've got to know even more people. Understandably, other may prefer to just keep themselves to themselves, but who doesn't like a friendly hello when they turn up for a shift on the plot?
As well as managing your own plot, there in our allotment society, there is a responsibility on us all to look after the communal areas, hedges and fence lines all around the boundary of the site. To tackle these areas takes a big chunk of time for an individual. For this reason, our society committee organise work weekends as and when they are needed. Only a couple of hours on a given weekend is all that's needed, and recently we had such a weekend. The job list simply said 'a good tidy up'. 14 fellow allotmenteers came armed with everything from hedge cutters, ladders, loppers and saws.
I don't know about anyone else, but I had a great morning working with everyone. We got through a huge amount of work together considering the scale of the tidy up. Unfortunately, I don't have any 'before' shots as such, but I do have some 'after' shots.
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| The communal shed was beginning to get over run with ivy and brambles from the hedge. Most of the growth was removed from the roof and back wall. |
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| The farmers field at the top boundary of the site has it's own hedgerow which over the years had grown through our boundary badger proof fencing. Great work by the team at the top of the site to get it call cut back to the fence. |
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| Down the longest boundary, we have a duty to our neighbours whose homes back onto our allotment site. The undergrowth was cut back from over topping the fence line of the properties next to us. |
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| Across the bottom boundary of the site we have trees and undergrowth. Some of the trees were pruned back to ensure light levels are maintained as best as possible for the plot holders across the bottom row. |
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| The car park area is the one area that gives first impressions when you arrive. The undergrowth was cut right back to the fence line. |
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| Two buddleia bushes had started to take over the wooden fence in the carpark. Not only that, but stingy nettles and bindweed had started to take over around the base, overspilling into the first plot. |
That gives a good idea of everything we managed to accomplish during the day and now we can say the site is all ready for winter.
Until next time, Cheers!
