Not-quite-allotment Gardening

[gothwalk]

This might come to nothing, but... has anyone in the Dublin area got a back garden that they (or their landlord) wouldn't mind me digging (some of it) up for vegetable planting? Actual vegetables planted subject to discussion between me and whoever's in control of the garden, and bearing in mind that I'm not a very good gardener yet. Actual vegetables resulting to be split between me and the owner/tenant.

And if anyone wants to lend a hand with the digging and planting, should I find someone who's willing to let me at it, do let me know.

I'll be planting some herbs and tomatoes and stuff in what space we have in Portobello, but for potatoes, onions, and so on, I need more space. I'd look for an allotment, except there are none in Dublin - I did some extensive looking last year, and got well up into Dublin Corporation before getting a definite no and a recommendation to try Airfield House. Who, understandably, don't do allotments either.

Comments

[caturah.livejournal.com]

Dad and myself are planning on turning a full half of our back garden into a vegtable patch this year. I'm sure he wouldn't object to a share of the work for a share of the produce.

[niallm.livejournal.com]

Our garden, as you know, is currently a building site. When it stops being a building site, it will have many newly constructed raised beds and other blooming paraphenalia. You should open a discussion with the lady of the house about co-operative gardening.

[mr-wombat.livejournal.com]

You know what you'll need? The metric assload of rabbit sh... fertiliser at the end of my garden thats currently evolving our nettles into triffids.

[(Anonymous)]

If no other offers come up, I'll be back to talk about it - ideally, I'm looking to put space that would otherwise be unused to use.

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

Er. That was me.

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

Excellent, I shall discuss.

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

So I can have your lagomorph byproducts, but I can't rip up your garden, eh?

[mr-wombat.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough the lease prohibits setting up a garden but doesn't prohibit setting up a mountain of crap and sawdust.

[aidian.livejournal.com]

just curious as to what kind of stuff you're thinking of growing. i'm a back porch gardener these days, myself. it's not exactly crop growing or sustainable, but it passes the time and I get to experiment with a few fun kinds of plants, and I've got a compost bucket too that works quite well for small quantities of kitchen scrap.

[sshi.livejournal.com]

I've been having a few ideas that way out here myself, as there is decent space. however, the topsoil seems to be about two inches thick over misc. rubble and probably bloody rock, so haven't gone any further. also, it's not like I have lots of free time...

[ocultado.livejournal.com]

South Dublin County Council has allotments. Priority is given to "local residents" but anyone can apply.

Details on how to apply:
http://www.sdublincoco.ie/index.aspx?pageid=1278#faq181

Cost is approx EUR20 per year.

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

Good grief. You'd think Dublin Corporation would have SOME inkling of that. Thank you!

[ocultado.livejournal.com]

Talk to other local authorities!? Good grief, what do you think this is, some kind of democratic chatting place? If people spent their time conversing with other people all kinds of things could spread. Like diseases, and ideas, and information.

[radegund.livejournal.com]

I would be absolutely delighted to discuss this. I'm planning a mostly ornamental garden, but with food tucked in here and there. Strawberry tower. Potato barrel. Herb pots. Chard among the pansies. Espaliered fruit along the wall. That sort of thing. Ideas welcome.

However, there's one issue that gives me pause: I haven't been able to find anything convincing about the level of risk in growing food so close to a busy road. Have you come across any discussion of this, by any chance? Niall's Ma suggests talking to Teagasc (her erstwhile employers), but I haven't got around to it yet.

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

This is my own thinking, rather than anything researched, but: I would expect that unless you were growing food right by the roadside, natural dissipation of gases would mean that, at the distance you're at, it's pretty much background city level of pollutants - which is to say, not as low as we'd wish for, but grand if you wash food before eating it.

Because the pollution is (mostly) airborne, you don't get the concentrated effect of soil pollutants in the food.

I'll see about doing some actual research as well as just stabbing in the dark, though.

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

This looks useful:

http://celosangeles.ucdavis.edu/Environmental_Horticulture/Trace_Elements_and_Urban_Gardens.htm

... and it looks from that as if soil is generally the thing to be concerned with, more than air, as long as you're not planting leafy crops. I'd suggest keeping the herbs as far from the road as possible, and everything else should really be fine.

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

Based on what was successful before, I'm intending to grow parsley and some other herbs, onions (possibly small onion-like things like shallots), and ideally potatoes if I can find space. We already have a strawberry planter, moved with great effort from the old place.

I regularly thank the gods for giving me the unholy amount of muscle I have, but rarely more often than when they enable me to move a 100-litre container full of damp soil over a distance of about 150 metres. I just hope the damn strawberries recover from their winter collapse.

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

Well, allotment use won't - due to not living in their area, they won't even let me on the waiting list. They, of course, know nothing about whether other areas have any allotments for non-residents.

Thanks for the info, though, best I've seen yet.

[ocultado.livejournal.com]

Well if you run out of other ideas/possibilities, I *do* live in their cachement, if you wanted to go down that road. I'm not sure of the legalities though.

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

I'll keep it in mind - thanks!