I'm an elderly allotment holder

Neglected old fruit bushes have been the most difficult things to remove from my new plot, over 12 years old, with impossibly difficult and deep root balls. So neglected that bindweed and brambles were growing up them and were tangled with the roots. I do think fruit bushes should be limited to a few and regularly pruned but not banned altogether

We are allowed bonfires but I hate them and them are not for me

Good site management and rules are essential for the well-being of the majority and site as a whole. There are always a few who need rules

Simplyseeds is a wonderful seller of seeds, I first discovered them via ebay many years ago and still get seeds from them.

Today I found another seller as I wanted 35g fleece, I instinctively like them, called growseed. I may well get microgreen seeds from them. I did order a roll of fleece, in a most sensible width of 160 cm

Today I am going to hunt through my stores of net, hoops etc. I gave so much away with my last allotment

We’ve used Growseeds recently and found them very good. Got some rare tomato seeds all reasonably priced.

nandad

keepingquiet if it’s privately owned, then the owners can decide the rules. Where we are the allotments are either owned by the local council or the church and both have a long list of dos and don’t’s. I’m pleased he can have them and they are so calming. Is he sure that it was vandals? Here we have a huge badger problem and they frequently destroy fences and poly tunnels. We also have otters and they get into people’s gardens are decimate their fish.

By livestock I meant any animals, or fish (I was watching a farming program at the time!

Could be. He went today and realised most of the fish are still there. He came home happy that they were doing well- so panic over.

To be fair the landowner just takes the money and I'm not sure cares much about what goes on there!

Dodging the rain (which has been excessive this soggy winter) I have dug up a couple of blackcurrant bushes at the front of the allotment and replanted them in my little garden. I will replace them with something less attractive, perhaps broad beans. This past 2 years I have not had a single blackcurrant. Keeping an eye on them for ripeness, thieves have totally stripped the plants when I go to harvest them. Definitely not blackbirds. They go for the taller, safer to harvest, red currants, leaving those nearer the ground, plus the ground under the bushes is left clean. Not a dropped currant to be found. Last season my Gooseberry bushes also got stripped. This is in allotments with a high fence and locked gates.

My blueberries and strawberries always ripen fully in the house if picked early. I expect gooseberries would too, I do pick under ripe gooseberries to bottle and they make nice crumbles etc

I hate thieving. Could be a plot holder Aely. Someone who has been past and knows where to go in the dark

I pick my blackcurrants and thin the branches at the same time. I take out the whole branch and take it indoors to strip at my leisure

I think a net slung over the spikey gooseberries would also work as a deterrent. A pain for you but it would keep getting stuck on spines. I assume the thieving goes on in the dark

I think the black currant and gooseberry thieves are birds - not always blackbirds, but Jays, Magpies and wood Pigeons take them. Once birds find a source of nice juicy fruit, they will quickly strip the bushes. A few weeks ago we watched a small flock of Redwing Thrushes strip all the berries off a Pyracantha shrub in about half an hour.

Our allotments are owned by the Council but the maintenance and upkeep is down to our elected field committee who arrange working parties of plot holders over the Autumn and Winter months to maintain our site. We also arrange other events like an annual hog roast, coffee mornings, seed swaps, etc.

keepingquiet

My son has an allotment but someone got in the other day and caused damage and killed some of his fish.

He is really upset and has reported it to the police but their chances of catching anyone are zero.

How do you make your allotment secure? Or is it impossible?

That must be so disheartening, keepingquiet, and I’m glad the damage wasn’t as bad as he first thought. We have a large allotment site on our street, and it’s never been vandalised (I guess I should cross my fingers as I say that though!). There have been a couple of incidents of produce being stolen, but not huge amounts. All they have is a padlocked gate to deter people driving in there to use the parking space. My DH was the youngest allotmenteer when he was persuaded to take on a plot in 1980 - he’s now one of the oldest.

Our problem is deer so we have a polytunnel and loads of frames etc to cover plants up. It doesn’t stop rabbits burrowing into the polytunnel and even jumping into a frame and burrowing because the soil is softer. Regarding blueberries our soil is alkaline so we grow them in large pots and then when the berries have formed we move them into the polytunnel where the birds can’t eat them.

Thankyou Maggiemaybe- I will be going there for the first time tomorrow. I shall form my own judgement as to whether it is an allotment or a wildlife sanctuary!

Whatever he loves it and isn't harming anyone.

The turnover of plot holders is high and people go down there at different times on different days. I am often alone or with only one other holder, down the other end of the site. We no longer know everyone. One I do know well asked me, a couple of years ago, if I had given anyone permission to pull my rhubarb. I hadn't - but had noticed there wasn't much left. He had seen an unknown couple pulling it, in broad daylight, but wasn't sure whether to challenge them. Tools in the locked shed often go walkabout as well, sometimes to the wrong allotment, sometimes totally disappearing.

I spotted someone using my spade, which I needed, and I asked for it. He kindly allowed me to take it as he had "just about finished". On another occasion when retrieving my spade, the lady swore it was hers, had had it for years - until I pointed out my initials on the handle.