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Looks like the man has a handle on it.

What is allotments in britspeak? Raised beds? Small comm garden plots?

JRinPA wrote: ↑Wed Sep 13, 2023 1:55 pm What is allotments in britspeak? Raised beds? Small comm garden plots?

Large community garden plot

A full allotment plot is 10 rods (250 square metres) but you can get a half-plot if that's too much. I have two allotment sites very close to me, combined they have 85 full plots and over 200 people on the waiting list!

Thank you for that definition. Are you on one of the lists?

Funny how this always happens...what has it been, two days since I noted the term for the first time? This girl doesn't seem to know much about garlic - seems to think a hard frost makes them bulb - but she mentions her 'allotment" right off the bat.

Nope, not on the waiting list. My uncle was and waited for...maybe close to two decades? I'm not sure I'd actually want one, or at least can't think what I'd need all that space for. It's much easier growing in your own garden and even though the allotments are close I would probably be too lazy to visit them daily. So I'd have to grow things which can look after themselves and don't have to be harvested regularly, like potatoes, winter squash, onions, garlic... If I didn't have a garden big enough to grow a lot of things in then I'd probably feel differently.

I know of at least one county here in PA that allows county residents to sign up for fairly big tracts. Not sure of the Rod equivalent...Not my county, so I don't know the specifics. But after a certain date, they get re-offered to existing plot holders, so some people have 2 or more and can grow quite a bit to market. Of course, in that area, the local market is not exactly big city demand.

I had seeds of a "Mammoth Leek" that came out of the British giant vegetables scene. Without using any of the giant-making techniques, I really liked that these seedlings sized up really quickly compared to other varieties. No I didn't grow any giant leeks, but it was easier to get normal sized ones.
Too bad they weren't early enough for me to get seeds by overwintering in the greenhouse.
They weren't winter hardy either, so the tale of mammoth leek is coming to an end here.

In the UK allotments are regulated by (Parliamentary) law. There are various Allotment Acts (laws).

https://www.nsalg.org.uk/allotment-info ... llotments/

Gives a brief history

Tim DH

I thought the term sounded familiar. I just searched through where I thought I read it originally, and the term allotments was indeed used by Patrick O'Brian in "The Yellow Admiral". That is book 18 of Aubrey-Maturin series which is set roughly during the Napoleonic wars. Not quite the modern definition of course; it was described as allotments being received as replacement for the loss of access to common areas, but in no way making up for the loss.