What are you eating from your garden in December

[Decaff]

Not having a garden is a huge bug bear to me, I'm now trying to get as much organic grown veg dehydrated as I can to add to my stores, it takes up such little room too.

[EddieEnzyme]

Ooh, lots of types of jam and chutneys, pickled beetroot, pickled cucumber, passata, frozen peas,broad beans and home made wine....

[featherstick]

Not having a garden is a huge bug bear to me, I'm now trying to get as much organic grown veg dehydrated as I can to add to my stores, it takes up such little room too.

Do you have any space at all? You can do a lot on a balcony, porch, or windowsill. We had two cucumber plants in the porch this year (sunniest spot) and a neighbour grows beans on her front step - that was how we got talking.

[Decaff]

Not having a garden is a huge bug bear to me, I'm now trying to get as much organic grown veg dehydrated as I can to add to my stores, it takes up such little room too.

Do you have any space at all? You can do a lot on a balcony, porch, or windowsill. We had two cucumber plants in the porch this year (sunniest spot) and a neighbour grows beans on her front step - that was how we got talking.

Nothing, no balcony or porch and anything I try to grow indoors my mogsplosh destroys. I did grow tomatoes and some plants on my landing one year and got threatened with eviction as I was causing a fire escape hazard apparently...

[featherstick]

Gosh how annoying.

Guerrilla gardening? Or a garden-share with a neighbour? I think I'd go a bit potty if I couldn't grow...

[Decaff]

Totally frustrating as I used to grow a lot of veg and salad when I had a garden years ago and nothing tastes as good as just out of the ground veggies.

One day, I will have a garden again, it's top of my to do list and I am saving as much as I can when I can to make it happen.

[Hamradioop]

Totally frustrating as I used to grow a lot of veg and salad when I had a garden years ago and nothing tastes as good as just out of the ground veggies.

One day, I will have a garden again, it's top of my to do list and I am saving as much as I can when I can to make it happen.

The local authority is required by law to provide allotments. THere are also private allotments available in most areas.

Grundian article here http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle ... es-housing

Modern legislation can be found here. http://www.parliament.the-stationery-of ... /56016.htm

[Decaff]

Yup, were on the waiting list and have been for a while now.

[featherstick]

Yup, were on the waiting list and have been for a while now.

I managed to sidestep the waiting list when I got my first allotment. In our area, there are 3000 people on the list, and it can take 3 or 4 years for your name to come to the top of the list. When it does come up, the council has to write to offer you an allotment, wait until you reply, and allocate an allotment. Only about 1 in 3 people will actually take up an offer as they'll have moved away, lost interest, or whatever. Then they take on an allotment, and only about 1 in 2 people will stay on it as it can be hard work - they come down and kill themselves trying to do it all the first weekend, think it's always like that, and give up. So then the council has to decide they've given up, send a non-cultivation letter, wait for a reply, and start the whole process again. As you can see the administration burden is really high.

Which means that site managers have an incentive to offer allotments to people who they think will make a go of it without all the above. When I got mine, I went on the list, but I also went to my nearest site a few times, met the site manager, told him I'd grown before as an organic market gardener, told him I'd be flexible and accept a half-plot, or help someone who wanted to scale back, and as a result I was on a plot within 6 weeks.

Might not be the same for you but showing your face wouldn't hurt, especially as you have experience.

[Decaff]

Thanks Featherstick, useful information and I will take a wander round our local allotments and see what's happening.