What made you start a lottie?

[okra]

I can't remember what inspired me to start this topic but I have enjoyed reading all the posts - its so joyful to know there are so many like minded people around

[okra]

[Trevor_D]

I expect that any non-gardener who accidentally strayed into this post would think we're all mad! We, of course, know that we're the sane ones!

Both our parents "Dug for Victory" (and half our suburban back garden was devoted to chickens), so I suppose it's in the blood. As a child (just after the war), money was scarce, but there was always plenty of food, as father grew it and mother preserved and baked it. So, as newly-weds ourselves, with a young son, we got an allotment. And made our own jams & chutneys, and bread & cakes, and wine & beer. Unfortunately, pressures of two full-time jobs, time-consuming hobbies (and an OU degree) meant that we gave up the lottie after 5 or 6 years.

But now - both early retired - we've taken it up again! Seven years in and no regrets! As loads of folk have said, it's a refuge, it's therapy. The organic fruit & veg is just the icing on the cake, isn't it? We're out in the open air; there's always someone to talk to (but you can be quiet & ignore everyone if you want to) and we're doing our bit to preserve a green bit of the Great Wen.

And yes, the genes do mutate, don't they? Our son's main contribution to gardening is cooking on the BBQ, but he makes his own bread and they've got chickens in their garden!

[busy_lizzie]

One of the reasons for me getting an allotment was as an aid to my recovery from chronic fatigue, strangely enough! Wanted to eat organic veg, be out in the fresh air doing something healthy, wanted to build my strength up and just be at peace with the world. I just hit on the absolutely right thing for me to do at that time, and I fulfilled all five wishes. Never been happier than when I am on my allotment. The lovely thing about this site, is  that everybody knows exactly what I am talking about . busy_lizzie

[kt.]

I was bought up on it as a kid. Missed it when I had to work away for 15 years. Now more stable at home so jumped at the chance when llife became more job stable. All my other brothers & sisters hate it and never intend to do it again. My brothers main memories are humping water from the beck up a huge hill for hours on end after school to fill water butts. Guess this put 'em off.

As well as health & keeping fit - I like the idea of my kids educated in the ways of growing veg & gardening, & all the other benefits of having an allotment. They have all their own tools in kids size & they love it.

[garlicgirl]

Getting excited when things start growing!

Parents always had veg patch/allotment when i was small.

Also, i love the peace and quiet up there - chatting to other people covered in mud, making sure the resident frogs are ok, talking to plants  :o, feeling of satisfaction when i grow something we can eat.

[sawfish]

a personal challenge
my own space
no stress (flowers and veg don't argue)
nature
being in tune with the seasons
the cycle of life, food, waste, compost, earth etc etc
a dusty hut with settee, tea and biscuits
lighting my fire and burning wood in my cozy hut on a cold autumn day
lovely old greenhouse with interesting stuff in it
the history of the plot and the people before me
old tools used by interesting old men
waiting for things to sprout
free food
free exercise
somewhere other than my house
reading books about fruit and veg in my hut
meeting new friends
getting mucky
learning how the simplest life is the most enjoyable
listening to classicFM and radio4 while digging or potting up
feeling alive after a days propogating etc
building strange things like a big kid
being creative with living stuff
NO COMPUTERS!!

[Vegemite]

my little one is adopted and i couldn't control what went into her body when she was in the womb (which wasn't ideal) and i am d**n well sure i will fill her with good stuff now. at two and a half she already has completed her first summer season of gardening (grew tomatoes and spinach and courgettes and spring onion from seed last year) .... this year, moving to a smaller garden, we await our allotment and are planting in pots this year instead (better than the ground- our springer woud "christen" everything too much!

along with all that, i LOVE watching things grow and love food so it kinda works well together- i can't wait to have my own little patch that my dh can't moan about what i do on it too!

[Vegemite]

... just wanted to add that sawfish's post has made me green (er) with envy and if i don't get my allotment this year i will officially go mad (although many have suspected it over the years..).. especially keen on building strange things like a big kid. hurrah. hopefully made from old tat no one else wants any more that would make my lovely but materialistic dh shke in his boots if it was in our garden.

I remember my Gran in aus (she was a kent lass) she had a massive greenhouse, and we always left her house with cuttings- i had no idea how shoving a cutting in "water" worked- but as a kid it was magic!

[artichoke]

I like sawfish's post too and agree with every word except I don't have a hut. Have plans for making one out of odds and ends, though! I especially like wearing baggy old clothes and boots, and nobody noticing.

[carrot-cruncher]

1. It's cheaper to grow your own organic food than buy it from a supermarket.
2. Allotment rent is generally cheaper than a monthly gym subscription.
3. My food isn't racking up miles 'cos it's being imported from the far side of the world.
4. It's quality time, spent with like minded people, who's eyes don't glaze over at the first mention of the word "allotment"

CC

[northener]

I went self employed 3 years ago and at times it was quite. I used to end up in the pub. Wife not very happy so i got an allotment. Works picked up now so allotments sufferd a bit.Still enjoy though, been down there all morning my back knows about it.

[okra]

Brialliant post Sawfish

[allaboutliverpool]

My reason is sad, I decided last year at the age of 60 to start an allotment while I still had a few years left! :(
I hope that the activity and fresh vegetables will give me a few years more. :)
I have also started a website as I have read that stimultation of the brain also helps. ;)


http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments1_homepage.html

[sawfish]

60's pretty young nowadays, I'm sure you'll still be growing veg when your 95

:)

[saddad]

Betty our next door neighbour, and plot holder, we have lotties over our back fence... (BLISS) is 90 in May and although we help her put her spuds in she still does the plot...
;D

[allaboutliverpool]

Great! that gives me 30 years, if my wife keeps going, at 2 hours a day that is 21,900 hours of nagging to go, no wonder we die first.

[bupster]

Sort of by accident - I always loved food and cooking, and I was bored at work one day so I thought I'd look into it thinking that there was a three and a half year waiting list. Turned out to be three days  :P.

Best thing I ever did. You've always got something to look forward to, and a reason for getting out of bed at the weekend; there's hard work in the fresh air, which you'd never volunteer for otherwise; I look healthy in the summer, and I'm a lot less fat than I'd be otherwise; and most of all the peace - I commute to work in London now, often four hours' travelling a day, and the allotment is just the antithesis of everything that's stressful during my week. One day I'd like to have the time to make it look like the secret garden I have in my head; in the meantime it's something to work for, which everybody needs to have.

[emmy1978]

My reason is sad, I decided last year at the age of 60 to start an allotment while I still had a few years left! :(
I hope that the activity and fresh vegetables will give me a few years more. :)
I have also started a website as I have read that stimultation of the brain also helps. ;)


http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments1_homepage.html

Can't see anything sad there allaboutliverpool! sounds perfectly reasonable to me! Happy growing. x

edit : just been to look at your site allaboutliverpool. If that's you i have to say you don't look like you're about to pop off anytime soon. Love Liverpool, my uncle has lived there for 20 years and i love going to visit him. Fantastic city. x

[ninnyscrops]

My grandad had an allotment that I could see from my bedroom window. I used to watch him tend the beans mainly because that was all I could recognise.

My brother recently scanned and sent me a photo that I took c.1965 when the developers moved in on the plots.



What goes around, comes around......

[Spyros]

helped fill a vast hole when the missus left.

form a queue now ladies.