Rubbish

Over the bank holiday weekend the council provided us with a skip into which we could place rubbish from our plots. I found an old iron bed, 10m of ventilation ducting, various parts of a car's suspension, lots of old rotten carpet and some rubbish sacks full of something smelly. It was a good gesture from the council but I was saddened to see an allotment holder drive in to the car park with a car full of domestic rubbish and promptly place it in the skip. By the afternoon the skip was full and plotholders trying to clear their plots no longer had anywhere to deposit their rubbish. You don't want to carry a bag full of rotting vegetation in your car. It's a shame the space was taken by bits of clean carpets and lampshades.

It's similar to the people who drives miles into the countryside to dump a car load of rubbish when the council run recycling centre is half the distance away and would take all the stuff! I never have understood that.

How it all Started

I had enjoyed growing vegetables in the small garden of my terraced house. I decided to get an plot in the nearby Callowland allotments. I applied to Watford Council and duly met the lady who could allocate plots. I chose a '5 pole' plot, ie half standard size. It took about 4 weeks to get a key. The first year costs nothing and it's about £2 per pole per year after that!

The weekend I got my key we had to put our house on the market! A week later we were living in a two bedroom flat. That was at the end of January. With so much going on I wasn't able to get to work on the plot until Good Friday. I managed to clear enough to enable my daughter to plant some flower seeds and for me to plant the strawberry runners that I had saved from my old garden.

That was how it started. This blog will tell the story of how it progresses. The successes and failures. The hard work and the rewards. Was it worth it? Let's find out......