A letter to new allotment holders

Brighton and Hove Allotment Federation

If you take on an allotment, the Brighton and Hove Allotment Federation sends you a welcome letter, containing basic information and advice.  The text of the letter is below, and you can download the letter as a Word document at the foot of this page.

Dear Tenant,

Congratulations on your decision to take on an allotment. The Brighton and Hove Allotment Federation would like to welcome you as a new member. A percentage of your annual rent paid to the council is passed onto the Federation which is a voluntary organisation run to promote allotments in Brighton and Hove and work with the council in maintaining the 37 sites.

Each site has a representative and these volunteers are willing to offer advice and assistance where they can. If you are not aware of the site representative details please feel free to contact the Allotment Officer on 292225.

Site representatives/contacts are volunteers who amongst other things act as the contact between the Allotments Officer and the Federation on behalf of Site Tenants. Their work is very valuable and constructive for which we are all both indebted and thankful.

The Allotment Federation website above (from March 2006) will be available for advice and information plus you can contact the Federation by e-mail at the above address (again from March 2006).

The Allotment Federation have a list of tools and equipment available to allotment holders to use, again either contact the Allotment Officer or one of the Federation officers listed below.   Overleaf is listed a few guidelines for working on your allotment, this has been put together from comments by site representatives and is useful advice for your getting the most out of your allotment.

City College Brighton & Hove is running two courses in allotment gardening for 'beginners and the overwhelmed'. Both courses run for eight weeks. For more information telephone 736491

If you have spare produce to distribute you can contact the Food Partnership on 234883 and they will point out your nearest community food project to take your produce to.

Good luck and happy growing !

John Burns
Chairman - Brighton and Hove Allotment Federation

Below are a few points that will help you have a happy and successful tenancy, and will help ensure that our allotment service runs smoothly.

Allotment Rules
When you become a tenant you will receive a copy of the Allotment Rules; please read these carefully, and abide by them at all times.

Plot Clearance
Please contact the Allotments Officer if you require your plot to be cleared of rubbish, and/or strimmed down if it's overgrown.  This service is available to new plot holders only.  After that, please ensure that you remove rubbish from the plot yourself.  There is no rubbish clearance service on any of our allotment sites.

Vandalism
Practically all allotment sites in the land suffer from periodic vandalism.  Fortunately it usually isn't too serious.  There are some dos and don'ts: for example, dokeep shiny new tools hidden from view, and don't let the odd spot of vandalism deter you.  Remember that the more that plot holders are on site, the less the problem will be.  The Allotments Regeneration Initiative has an excellent fact sheet entitled "Safe Sites" on its website ( http://www.farmgarden.org.uk/ari/ ) that discusses the problem in detail.

Caravans
You may spot a caravan or two being used as a shed on your site.  These vehicles were brought on to the site when doing so was allowed by the rules.  Please note that this practice is currently forbidden by the rules.

Don't take on too much
Most activities will give you some quick, immediate reward for your initial efforts.  An allotment, however, may involve many months of hard work before you get any reward, especially if you start in the winter when not much will grow.  For this reason there is a tendency to give up too soon.  Taking on too big a plot exacerbates this tendency.  Do please consider:

• How much you will realistically be able to spare for your plot every week
• Sharing with workload with friends and family
• Taking on a half-sized plot
• Naming a helper as an official co-worker (see the Allotment Rules).

Keeping on top of things
If you find that you are unable to adequately keep on top of your plot, please do not let it gradually pass from being cultivated to uncultivated, and then on to being partly or completely overgrown.  Instead please inform the Allotments Officer or your local Site Representative of the situation as soon as possible.  Similarly, if you decide that you have given up the plot, please inform the Allotments Officer immediately.  There are usually people on the waiting lists for our sites; please consider others by freeing up a plot that you are no longer cultivating as soon as possible.