Half of allotments held by women.

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Westi
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Interesting article in the Mail today saying in the capital 63.7% of holders are women with an average age of 57. (It was 2% in 1973 & 20% in 2003). It is also saying the average wait for a plot in London is 5yrs and some have closed their list as waiting time is 40 yrs. There are 24,883 plots in the capital which would explain the wait when you consider the total population.

Then they spoiled the article saying women got inspiration from celebrity gardener Charlie Dimmock and Felicity Kendal's portrayal of Barbara Good in The Good Life. Doh? We are not that shallow & there are many more reasons why women might want an allotment - healthy food for their children, a bit of exercise, an escape from the home/work/hustle & bustle, can save money, can even save your sanity in a pandemic, memories of childhood. I did tut quite a bit reading where we got our inspiration from, ruined the piece as obviously not researched for some of the more serious role models people might aspire to.
Westi
Monika
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That is interesting, Westi. I think our 'old' allotment site now also has more women than men allotment holders. And I totally agree with your comment in the second paragraph: not having a TV, these women mean nothing to me, so your reasons are far more valid!!!
robo
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I would like to know how they save you money
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oldherbaceous
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Only one Lady on our site but, she could dig for England...and she has retired too...
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

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Primrose
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Well I,m wondering how many people started up a small vegetable plot in their garden t the beginning of lockdown, fearing for a supply o fesh vegetables, who have been sufficiently bitten by the bug to keep it going.

My grandmother kept an allotment going pretty much single handed during the First World War while her husband was away fighting but she had six children. to feed. Out of all her descendants, I'm the only one of her children and grandchildren who has been regularly involved in"growing" my own and i can,t Imagine how barren my life would have felt hadn't done so. I inherited her massive cast iron enamelled preserving pan which cover all four Gas hobs on my stove and would make enough jam and marmalade to stock the village. It,a too bulky for me to use now but i wouldn,t part with it as it kept her children well fed for years).

Quite apart from the exercise and healthy food aspect, I suspect for me "growing my own" has always had an element of hope and anticipation because you know that if one season is poor The next one always offers a fresh start, and that's what,a life is all about. It,a also an exercise in nurturing patience as nature won,t be hurried !

It,s shame thwt many gardens are so small now. They don,t offer the same scope that people had a generation ago when they had more growing space to play with.
Westi
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I figured my asparagus savings pays for a plot. Well it did until this year, so we will see how much the new council puts the rent up. I suspect that calculation will be blown out of the water with the current demand.
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robo
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I stand corrected westi ,I forgot about the asparagus and the pears and tomatoes as well as other stuff that comes every year with very little effort from myself ,this year we had the first of the cob nuts which I’m hoping will be more in abundance in the coming years ,this was our first year that the cob bushes were big enough to produce I estimate we had 60 nuts not a lot but far more than the plums and cherry’s produced
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Geoff
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And you aren't spending money anywhere else while you are on the allotment!
Stephen
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I haven't really counted men vs women plotholders on our gardens. Many are worked by couples (either friends or partners).
Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
robo
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I’ve got a female co-worker who appeared when life was very dark for me ,she was introduced by a friend,she keeps threatening to join our forum ,we have a lot of females on our allotment but it’s not surprising it’s that big with something around 60 plots
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Primrose
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robo - you're lucky you get any cob nuts at all. Round here the squirrels get up earlier than humans and pinch them all. Also, they're nimbler at climbing to inaccessible places to pick them!

We have a few walnut trees in our local park. When they start dropping, I usually forage some and bring them home for our "resident visiting squirrel" as we don't seem to have any trees immediately in the vicinity where we live.

Encourage your co-worker to join the forum. The more the merrier and always good to have new faces and share new experiences.
Stephen
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I have tried to encourage the undergardener to sign up, she would contribute well but so far just asks me to do the research.
Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
robo
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That’s what I found to be strange more than one squirrel has been spotted on our plots when we first spotted the cob nuts I started to harvest them just in case the squirrels beat me to it only to find they were empty so we decided to leave them and risk it ,after our main collection I thought that was it no more but I must have found at least ten I found three last week
Stravaig
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robo wrote:I would like to know how they save you money


Yeah, I have a (Scottish) friend who's a professional gardener. He told me that the cost of inputs for him to grow a cauliflower sometimes make him wonder why he doesn't just go and buy one at Asda.
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Primrose
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Yes, by the time you've paid for compost, manure, tools etc your crops can often cost most than a cheap deal at the supermarket but against that you have to balance the sheer joy and satisfaction of picking your own. There are some things that just can,t be properly accounted for on Life,s balance sheet and reaping the rewards of your own hard work is probably one of them,

Reminds me of the story of somebody who once said to a brilliant musician. "Arn,t you lucky to be able to play so brilliantly?
Response, "Yes, and arn't I lucky having to practice at least eight hours every day to get play to like this?"
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