How much time does an allotment take? Part two
In July I decided to spend a couple of weeks recording the time we spent at the plot and the proportion of time spent of different activities. We spent an average of 11.6 hours on activities related to the allotment per week.
One of our fellow plotholders volunteered to do a similar audit, so here is a comparison for a bit of fun!
| Ourselves | Vicky | |
| Family Size | 3 adults | 2 adults, 3 young children |
| Plot size | 625sqm | 125sqm |
| Method | No Dig | Traditional digging |
| Under cover structures | 2 x greenhouses | None |
| Working commitments | 2 adults working fulltime | 2 adults working fulltime |
| Total time at the plot (1 week) | 11.6 hours over 4 days | 20.6 hours over 6 days |
| Time spent processing crops | 3 hours | 1.5 hours |
| % time weeding | 3% | 2.5% |
| % time watering | 11.5% (nearly all the greenhouse) | 16% |
| % time general maintenance | 10% | 21% |
| % time cropping | 12% | 43% |
| % time relaxing | 45% | 0% |
Our attendance patterns are certainly different. Vicky tends to visit her plot regularly throughout the week whereas we are there predominanently at the weekends. We certainly spend far more time relaxing/socialising at our plot! Vicky says this was a particularly busy week for her, but for us was quite an average week for us. Interestingly, Vicky spent quite some time watering the plot despite not having any undercover space. This is something that we rarely do once plants are established. Even with very different cultivation methods neither of us spent much time weeding – whatever method you choose if you keep on top of things weeding doesn’t become a big chore!