Review Time
I have wanted an allotment for so long, the council one local to me had a long waiting list and had endemic mares tail so would be problematic. Along came Roots, I nearly missed out but my friend told me. Did the online thing, waited a bit then saw the patch manager there, No Dig Dave. He sorted it all and now after four of having my patch I am getting g my first produce. The support is amazing from educational advice on growing, plant and seed drops that coincide with the growing season, a generous car park and tools on site which are all safely kept in a locked shed. There is a loo there if you want d to spend the day and a fab tipi and benches for community events. Dogs are welcome if on a lead and it is just such a positive and enriching experience I can't thank Roots and particularly Dave enough.
I have wanted an allotment for so long, the council one local to me had a long waiting list and had endemic mares tail so would be problematic. Along came Roots, I nearly missed out but my friend told me. Did the online thing, waited a bit then saw the patch manager there, No Dig Dave. He sorted it all and now after four of having my patch I am getting g my first produce. The support is amazing from educational advice on growing, plant and seed drops that coincide with the growing season, a generous car park and tools on site which are all safely kept in a locked shed. There is a loo there if you want d to spend the day and a fab tipi and benches for community events. Dogs are welcome if on a lead and it is just such a positive and enriching experience I can't thank Roots and particularly Dave enough.
My experience of roots is their hiding any negative comments about their destruction of a wildlife meadow that supports endangered species and the unnecessary death of deer caught up in their shoddy fencing. There’s No car park, nor any nearby parking, no toilet facilities, no seating area and the “Bristol” site not only isn’t in Bristol (it’s in Somerset) it’s not even on a main bus route. With no car park that’s a bit of a hike.
My experience of roots is their hiding any negative comments about their destruction of a wildlife meadow that supports endangered species and the unnecessary death of deer caught up in their shoddy fencing. There’s No car park, nor any nearby parking, no toilet facilities, no seating area and the “Bristol” site not only isn’t in Bristol (it’s in Somerset) it’s not even on a main bus route. With no car park that’s a bit of a hike.
I had a plot for two years with Roots. I'm very grateful to have had the space to grow that I wouldn't have had otherwise and my initial experience with them was great.When the first site in Bath opened in 2022, the team were attentive, quick to reply and solve problems, and very communicative about anything that came up that they were working to solve.Roots gets a lot of stick for being expensive, which they of course are compared to traditional allotments. In theory, you're supposed to get seeds, plug plants, access to shared tools and unlimited compost, manure and woodchip. They also host community events - the ones I attended at the Bath Tucker's meadow site were really lovely. If you get all of this for your money, it's good value.The downside - what you're supposed to get on paper doesn't always quite add up to reality.You can't choose your seeds, which they don't promise to be fair but I was never given much I actually wanted to grow - lots of cabbages, root veg and fairly obscure herbs.Time of year we were given seeds was also often wrong. For example, we were given tomato seeds in May - far too late to sow (these are sown feb-march, or April at at a real push). The plug plants offered were also hit and miss. First couple of runs available to us were great - nice healthy plugs, fun plants (courgette, squash, spring onions etc).The next year, the plug plants were half dead by the time they were given to us - kept in their tiny plugs for weeks longer than they were supposed to be so they died off straight away.Part of Roots' advertised philosophy is to educate new growers and help them on their journey. I felt they just didn't have the knowledge to do that. I'd been growing for just a couple of years when I took on my plot but was already conscious that I knew a fair bit more than the Roots' crew and some of the advice they were giving out was just totally wrong.Growing can be an emotional journey. You plant seeds (and hope!) tend to them lovingly and await your reward. I hated the idea of new growers sowing their tomato seeds in May then wondering why they weren't growing well, or desperately trying to revitalise half-dead plug plants and thinking it was something they'd done. It's enough to put you off growing if you were new to it, which is a massive shame when it's such a positive thing for mind, body, community and environment - an ethos Roots supposedly champion.As they began to expand they started hiring Patch Managers who had horticultural backgrounds to support growers and keep things tidy. They were lovely people and clearly more knowledgeable than the core Roots team, but still gave out pretty questionable advice that I strongly suspect they were asked to give out to save money for Roots, i.e. that new seedlings only needed to be watered once a week in dry weather (likely to result in a dead seedling for 80% of plants).The availability of compost and manure was also not reliable. Again, early on with the site these were almost always available. Compost was always pretty low-quality, but available. The manure was initially well-rotted and really helpful to boost your soil. There were also several deliveries that were not at all well-rotted and would damage plants (Nitrogen burn) if put on directly. It's also not healthy to put manure on ground growing food before it's well-rotted.A friend of mine who has a plot at Roots' second Bath site told me that a few weeks ago their site had a huge delivery of extremely fresh manure (not well-rotted) and growers their were advised by roots to pile it on their plots as it was 'soil gold'. Again - not at all correct and would kill plants as fresh manure is too high in nitrogen as well as being smelly and not safe to put on edibles for hygiene reasons. To me, it was noticeable that the attentiveness of the team and the quality of service declined as Roots expanded and opened more sites. I felt it moved from a great business idea will real heart behind it to ever-expanding without putting in place the correct foundations for a quality experience for growers and delivering what you promise.
I had a plot for two years with Roots. I'm very grateful to have had the space to grow that I wouldn't have had otherwise and my initial experience with them was great.When the first site in Bath opened in 2022, the team were attentive, quick to reply and solve problems, and very communicative about anything that came up that they were working to solve.Roots gets a lot of stick for being expensive, which they of course are compared to traditional allotments. In theory, you're supposed to get seeds, plug plants, access to shared tools and unlimited compost, manure and woodchip. They also host community events - the ones I attended at the Bath Tucker's meadow site were really lovely. If you get all of this for your money, it's good value.The downside - what you're supposed to get on paper doesn't always quite add up to reality.You can't choose your seeds, which they don't promise to be fair but I was never given much I actually wanted to grow - lots of cabbages, root veg and fairly obscure herbs.Time of year we were given seeds was also often wrong. For example, we were given tomato seeds in May - far too late to sow (these are sown feb-march, or April at at a real push). The plug plants offered were also hit and miss. First couple of runs available to us were great - nice healthy plugs, fun plants (courgette, squash, spring onions etc).The next year, the plug plants were half dead by the time they were given to us - kept in their tiny plugs for weeks longer than they were supposed to be so they died off straight away.Part of Roots' advertised philosophy is to educate new growers and help them on their journey. I felt they just didn't have the knowledge to do that. I'd been growing for just a couple of years when I took on my plot but was already conscious that I knew a fair bit more than the Roots' crew and some of the advice they were giving out was just totally wrong.Growing can be an emotional journey. You plant seeds (and hope!) tend to them lovingly and await your reward. I hated the idea of new growers sowing their tomato seeds in May then wondering why they weren't growing well, or desperately trying to revitalise half-dead plug plants and thinking it was something they'd done. It's enough to put you off growing if you were new to it, which is a massive shame when it's such a positive thing for mind, body, community and environment - an ethos Roots supposedly champion.As they began to expand they started hiring Patch Managers who had horticultural backgrounds to support growers and keep things tidy. They were lovely people and clearly more knowledgeable than the core Roots team, but still gave out pretty questionable advice that I strongly suspect they were asked to give out to save money for Roots, i.e. that new seedlings only needed to be watered once a week in dry weather (likely to result in a dead seedling for 80% of plants).The availability of compost and manure was also not reliable. Again, early on with the site these were almost always available. Compost was always pretty low-quality, but available. The manure was initially well-rotted and really helpful to boost your soil. There were also several deliveries that were not at all well-rotted and would damage plants (Nitrogen burn) if put on directly. It's also not healthy to put manure on ground growing food before it's well-rotted.A friend of mine who has a plot at Roots' second Bath site told me that a few weeks ago their site had a huge delivery of extremely fresh manure (not well-rotted) and growers their were advised by roots to pile it on their plots as it was 'soil gold'. Again - not at all correct and would kill plants as fresh manure is too high in nitrogen as well as being smelly and not safe to put on edibles for hygiene reasons. To me, it was noticeable that the attentiveness of the team and the quality of service declined as Roots expanded and opened more sites. I felt it moved from a great business idea will real heart behind it to ever-expanding without putting in place the correct foundations for a quality experience for growers and delivering what you promise.
Meadow Hill site in Croydon is actually in Sutton not Croydon. Nothing to do with the community in Croydon or our need for allotments. Wildlife has been seriously impacted and too many cars will be visiting the site. I decided to cancel my membership when I realised how damaging it would be to the local wildlife. Although I have nothing against allotments on a more appropriate site.
Meadow Hill site in Croydon is actually in Sutton not Croydon. Nothing to do with the community in Croydon or our need for allotments. Wildlife has been seriously impacted and too many cars will be visiting the site. I decided to cancel my membership when I realised how damaging it would be to the local wildlife. Although I have nothing against allotments on a more appropriate site.
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