Show and shame

A Place To Grow Your Own

It’s understandable, that during the recent very strong sun and heat, those parking vehicles will seek shade. However, there’s no excuse for what’s happened here.

As was very well publicised here, there was a program of planting – by unpaid volunteers – of pollinator-supporting flowering shrubs last year, and many of these have grown well, thanks to the tending, weeding, watering, and feeding by those volunteers, and by kind others.

So it’s more than disappointing, to see the lack of observation and consideration for that work on the part of some drivers, who apparently think that their desire to park in as much shade as possible trumps everything else.

Here we see that a driver has reversed beyond the surfaced area, and someway up into the shrubbery planted and maintained by unpaid volunteers, in the apparent attempt to maximise the shade for their vehicle. In so doing, flowering shrubs have been damaged, like the St. John’s wort shown here.
This is the vehicle whose driver is responsible for the damage. If you’re the driver, then please don’t do this again. If you’re not, but you know whose it is, then please mention to its owner their lack of awareness and its consequences.

A lot of unpaid work went into propagating these shrubs from cuttings, in preparing the ground for their planting, and in maintaining them since.

Please, everyone, support your fellow plot holders in such works.

PPA Website Team

4 thoughts on “Show and shame”

  1. I completely understand the frustration and upset of seeing plants damaged after so much volunteer effort has gone into establishing and maintaining them.
    That said, I’m not sure a “show and shame” approach helps create the kind of supportive community many of us would like our allotment to be. The parking was clearly careless but theres no indication it was intentional, and I think a little benefit of the doubt is important. If these areas are particularly sensitive, perhaps clearer signage or markers would help prevent similar incidents in future??
    Your post asks people to support fellow plot holders and I agree. However, support is most likely to grow in an environment that is led with some understanding, and constructive communication. If we’re aiming to build a supportive community, i think public ‘shaming’ may be counterintuitive.

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  2. That really wasnt my intention and im sorry if it came across that way.
    I was just reflecting on whether public naming and shaming is the best way to encourage care in a shared space. I ofc agree with the aim of protecting the hard work of volunteers

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