13 ms·
Winning a London Garden Allotment
- wgx 4y agoI can’t read the article without signing up.
- Scoundreller 4y agouse tor
- jeroenhd 4y agoTry this: https://archive.ph/3Pxym https://archive.ph/3Pxym
- robga 4y ago>There is no way to check one’s position on the list. One simply waits, as if for an act of God. Actually, many London boroughs have good tracking information. Here is one. It even shows the application date at the top of the list. https://www.richmond.gov.uk/media/22784/allotment_waiting_list.xlsx https://www.richmond.gov.uk/media/22784/allotment_waiting_li...
- secondcoming 4y agoWarning: that links to an Excel spreadsheet
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- namdnay 4y agoIs this uncommon in the US? I’ve seen it pretty much everywhere across Europe. Usually they’re managed by the town council and reserved for apartment-dwellers
- simantel 4y agoNot uncommon at all. In the US they're generally called community gardens, and in larger cities often have similarly long wait lists to the OP's.
- 13of40 4y agoNot sure if this is a pro-tip that could be repeated or not, but I've had a plot for five years. When I signed up they contacted me and told me about the extensive waiting list, and offered to tear up my check if I didn't want to wait. "But it's a cashier's check," I replied. I think they bumped me up in the queue just to avoid the hassle of returning it, because I was immediately approved. (Edit: Just to be clear I think the wait time was a year or two, not 40.)
- paulcole 4y agoYes, I’m in Portland, OR and waited for a plot in a community garden a few blocks from my apartment for about 4 years - this garden is very popular and now has a wait list of 6-8 years. There were several gardens in the city with openings but none were very convenient to where I live.
- selimthegrim 4y agoMy aunt had one in the garden next to Buckman Elementary, it seemed well subscribed.
- paulcole 4y agoYeah the closer in gardens in SE tend to be really popular and well taken care of. Buckman, Colonel Summers, Clinton, etc.
- sour-taste 4y agoI've never heard of this anywhere in the US (but I've never explicitly looked). I got a plot at work once but that was private property. A senior center next to me offered gardening at a nearby plot for it's elderly members but again nothing public. Some city parks have small gardens run by volunteers. Edit: should have googled, seems my town does indeed have it! https://www.mountainview.gov/depts/cs/rec/facilities/garden.asp https://www.mountainview.gov/depts/cs/rec/facilities/garden....
- josephcsible 4y agoHow much of a practical difference is there between "I have to wait 40 years before I can get this thing" and "I can't afford this thing"? Is forcing artificially low prices for these actually helping anything?
- PragmaticPulp 4y agoThe difference is that one is distributed to people in order of requests and the other is distributed strictly to those who can afford the highest bid. Naturally, people with the most affluence would prefer the free market approach. Everyone else would prefer a non-zero chance of getting a plot eventually rather than a zero chance of being able to afford one at all.
- michaelt 4y agoFirstly, you can already get a plot of land you can garden at market rate - simply buy a house with a garden. Secondly, you should be extremely skeptical about the 40 year claim. After all, people move, and the popularity of allotments waxes and wanes. Thirdly, the people who allocate allotments are mostly looking for someone who is going to show up and take care of their plot so it doesn't get overgrown. Expecting a lot of manual labour and then pricing out anyone with a background in manual labour might not be the smartest move.
- josephcsible 4y ago> the people who allocate allotments are mostly looking for someone who is going to show up and take care of their plot so it doesn't get overgrown. Couldn't the owners address that by including a clause like "if you let your plot get overgrown, you have to pay a penalty (maybe 3x what it costs to pay someone to come take care of it), and if you do it twice, we're not renewing your lease"?
- londons_explore 4y agoOr... "You pay to start having the plot... Whoever is willing to pay most gets it, like an auction. And at a random time each year we'll come inspect the plot, and the worst-kept 20% will immediately lose the plot and if you want it again you have to re-buy it.". So you're buying a kinda-5-year-lease. But the exact length of your lease depends how well you look after it.
- tomcam 4y agoEngaging article. Not sure why Brexit caused increased interest in allotments?
- DharmaPolice 4y agoSome of it is (or was) fears about food security. Here's a Guardian article on the topic : https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/apr/13/how-brexit-made-the-allotment-cool-again https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/apr/13/how-bre...
- anigbrowl 4y agoFood insecurity.
- shapefrog 4y ago> Not sure why Brexit caused increased interest in allotments? Only a traitor would allow any of their food to come from the EU post brexit freedom. The only way is to grow your own, hence the need for a plot to grow on.
- 7952 4y agoIt was a way of escaping the boredom of being stuck in doors. And unaffected by COVID rules.
- jen729w 4y agoLife lesson: time comes around faster than you think. Melbourne’s MCG has a members’ club. To get in you have to be sponsored by two existing members, fill in a form, and wait. The wait list is something like 15 years. [0] I had this form in 2006 and thought, eh, too long. I didn’t submit it. But my time is now, and I remember that moment, and clearly remember younger me thinking that this day would never come. I was in my late 20s, I couldn’t imagine being 45. Well, here I am. [0]: https://www.mcc.org.au/about-the-club/membership/latest-membership-intake https://www.mcc.org.au/about-the-club/membership/latest-memb...
- SnowHill9902 4y agoThe best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the second best is now.
- mafro 4y agoMy father-in-law said this to me once, and as an Englishman living in Australia I thought it was a particularly brilliant aphorism!
- saghm 4y agoI understand the meaning of this saying, but it's always sounded weird to me because it makes it sound like there's been a ban on planting new trees since 19 years ago.
- profunctor 4y agoDo you think you might use it when you’re 60?
- jen729w 4y agoActually I've moved away and don't hang out with the same people so it's unlikely I'd use it now. So it worked out okay.
- Traubenfuchs 4y ago
- 867-5309 4y agothere's a similar swindle in Zone 1 boroughs e.g. Pimlico for "communal areas" - strips of ~20x100m gardens behind 2m high iron railings dotted amongst the eyewateringly overpriced townhouse squares. the waiting lists are around 15 years, by which time your housebound puppy is dead and your asthmatic newborn is still wondering what a flower looks like IRL. you either have to wait for the greedy elderly bastards to die sooner or move out of London altogether
- anigbrowl 4y agostrict rules that hold to this day: keep the paths scythed, don’t sell your produce, check with public officials before you keep hens or bees or rabbits or pigs or a goat. Note the strict bar on using the allotment to improve your economic situation. I laugh at the idea that property rights create freedom because the history of property rights is one of property owners acquiring more property by force.
- londons_explore 4y agoIndeed - the traditional purpose of allotments is to try to make sure the commoners can feed themselves, so they do not revolt, but cannot become rich.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- Angostura 4y agoNot at all (I have an allotment in London). The rules are there because allotments are supposed to be for you to grow food for your own consumption, rather than as commercial small holdings. People sometimes break this rule and you will see a plot that is dedicated (say) entirely to onions. The sites aren't designed to keep livestock on either, and they are small enough that you have to be a bit careful with hives disturbing neighbours.
- anigbrowl 4y agoallotments are supposed to be for you to grow food for your own consumption, rather than as commercial small holdings Yes, this is the exact point I am making.
- Doctor_Fegg 4y agoIt's certainly not a universal rule. I used to chair our town council, we had two sets of allotments, and we were very happy for people to sell their produce if they wanted to.
- 4y ago
- colechristensen 4y agoThe waitlists for community gardens are arguments against density enthusiasts who want to force changes on unwilling residents.
- LAC-Tech 4y agoSome people like living in urban environments. (I would too, under the right circumstances). I say good for them - beats endless suburbia.
- stevage 4y ago> Once designed to feed a family of four, at ten rods, or poles, an Anglo-Saxon unit of measurement—roughly two hundred and fifty square metres—they now can be half that size, a quarter, or even less. Wow, so 60 sqm is still typical? Around here a typical community garden plot would be maybe 4 to 6 sqm.
- Glawen 4y agoYou barely stand on 6 sqm, what do you grow?
- erikpukinskis 4y agoIt’s basically a single vegetable bed. At that size there would be paths in between that are community maintained. Although perhaps they meant 6 msq