Fwd: Allotments, was Efficient pea growing

**&* J* G* <l*@igc.org>**

Date:    Thu, 1 Apr 2004 09:25:20 +0100
From:    JT Thompson <jtthompson@EIRCOM.NET>
Subject: Allotments, was Efficient pea growing
At 00:40 +0100 01/04/2004, John D'hondt wrote:

That is correct Kathryn and I would like to had that I would definitely not
plant comfrey on an allotment that could be less than safe in chemical
terms. Not for ointment and not as fertiliser!

Our current allotments, in Clondalkin in West Dublin, are on lovely
land that was farmland, surrounded by train tracks and by a canal, so
trains go choochooing past regularly and everyone stands up from
digging or hoeing and watches the train go by!
The only problem at the moment is illegal dumping that makes the road
down to the allotments, and sometimes the entrance too, a disgusting
sight.
But the council has told us it will take this land to use for housing
within two years. Allotments have no legal rights in Ireland, but the
council has told us it will try its best to find new land for us.
The first suggestion (as discussed last month) was a tiphead that
went out of use three years ago (as discussed here); I've now talked
to local people there, and they say that this tiphead is still giving
off gases. No thanks!
They have also mentioned that there might be a possibility of giving
us temporary use of some land formerly rented to a nursery.
Allotments are not regarded as an Irish thing, and people really
haven't thought much about them. It would be great to get them into
the national consciousness - have people think that this is a good
thing, that gardeners could go and work together in a particular
place, swap skills; that this kind of gardening could be used for
teaching children, giving disabled people a crack of the whip,
swapping growing tips and plants among different ethnicities, and so
on.
I don't know if there's any material about the *philosophy* of
allotments online - anyone?

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