I want a garden!

[annanymous]

I've heard stories about people (even foreigners!) getting surprisingly inexpensive allotment gardens in the Helsinki area... So I started imagining how I would make my since-childhood dream come true and have my own little garden with lots of berries to pick and vegetables and medicinal herbs and how I would make everything nice and get seeds of old non-commercially bred sorts... but all the gardens I could find out about so far cost a fortune
Does anyone know of a possibility to get a piece of land to cultivate, not too far from Helsinki or Espoo, for less than a fortune? It doesn't have to be a weird club... Maybe someone private has some space they can't use themselves or something..? I could pay in yellow/red striped tomatoes or almost forgotten salad herbs..?

[onkko]

Only thing i could think is "siirtolapuutarha", dont know about price. I grow up in land where we had our own potato field and of course we had carrots and such too

[annanymous]

Only thing i could think is "siirtolapuutarha", dont know about price. I grow up in land where we had our own potato field and of course we had carrots and such too

Siirtolapuutarhat all seem to be very expensive.
Well, where I grew up my family had been living for ages and many of them were farmers - so both my parents have their own garden, then a potato field, meadows with apple trees, my grandfather used to have allotments for corn and stuff... But I was never allowed to do much on my own there plus, it's way too far from the coast for a wannabe sailor like me

[onkko]

You can ask local farmers if they will to rent some of their land, that shouldnt be to much.

[Karhunkoski]

Can I ask what price you're willing to pay per month for a small plot?

[MagicJ]

Only thing i could think is "siirtolapuutarha", dont know about price.

Siirtolapuutarhat all seem to be very expensive.

Ours, at the end of the No.10 tram line costs about 30€ a year for a 10m x 10m plot, I had to take out a bank loan! The 15m of raspberry bushes that were on the plot when we took it over certainly covers the cost each year. That's not including the gooseberry bushes etc etc

If you find out who's in charge of your nearest allotment, put your name down asap and you should be near the top of the waiting list when they offer them out in April/May.

[annanymous]

Ours, at the end of the No.10 tram line costs about 30€ a year for a 10m x 10m plot, I had to take out a bank loan! The 15m of raspberry bushes that were on the plot when we took it over certainly covers the cost each year. That's not including the gooseberry bushes etc etc

If you find out who's in charge of your nearest allotment, put your name down asap and you should be near the top of the waiting list when they offer them out in April/May.

Hey, that's exactly what I was looking for! The location would be very good, too. So where can I put down my name? Oh, and do they only give it to you from May to September, or can you also grow frost-resistant plants in winter, once you got it?

[MagicJ]

Ours, at the end of the No.10 tram line costs about 30€ a year for a 10m x 10m plot, I had to take out a bank loan! The 15m of raspberry bushes that were on the plot when we took it over certainly covers the cost each year. That's not including the gooseberry bushes etc etc

If you find out who's in charge of your nearest allotment, put your name down asap and you should be near the top of the waiting list when they offer them out in April/May.

Hey, that's exactly what I was looking for! The location would be very good, too. So where can I put down my name? Oh, and do they only give it to you from May to September, or can you also grow frost-resistant plants in winter, once you got it?

You can grow all year round i suppose, it looked a bit frozen when i inspected it last weekend though.
I'd have to ask re: contact details as my SO does all the admin.
Have a stroll in your neighbourhood, allotments are all over the place and Huopahlahti/Niemenmäki might not be your closest
eg: I know of four on this map, mine's under the little man on the zoom tool, top left.
Location, Location, Location. I live under a 5 minute walk away so can nip over to water or, collect salad (we had four types last summer) for dinner.

[EP]

Frost resistant plants?

Perennials and berry bushes are frost resistant, but what else?

[Pete]

Alppiruusut! Year round green leaves make them my favourite plant in our backyard.

[elsie]

hi!
our garden is in puotila, just close to the beach (so you could swim in the rare hot days after some gardening work!). The cost is 40 euro per year and the size is 100 m². We had to wait one year to get it since there is a waiting list. It's not allowed to built greehouses or plant trees, but you can plant bushes and everything else. Where do you live exactly? There are many places in helsinki from where you could get a garden.

[annanymous]

MagicJ: Please do ask for the contact details! The location is as good as it can get while we still don't know exactly where we'll live from July. Or, anyone has a spare apartment, too..?

EP: There are many frost-resistant plants, including very useful and healthy ones, like that salad herb the Vikings took on their journeys to prevent scurvy...

elsie: That sounds great, but it's too far away both from where we're now and from where we're planning to move. Hmm, too bad. Garden by the sea, lucky you

[elsie]

there is also a place in vallila-kumpula, if it's closer to you: you can contact hyotykasviyhdistys and apply directly from internet. I didn't find it in english, but here is the link in finnish:
http://www.hyotykasviyhdistys.fi/palstahakemus.shtml


They have gardens also in other places in helsinki, the list is in the page.
I wish you good luck with the finding! Everybody who wants get sooner or later a garden in helsinki.

But now I'm interested to know... which plants can you cultivate in winter? do you know the name and the place where is possible to find them?

[annanymous]

there is also a place in vallila-kumpula, if it's closer to you: you can contact hyotykasviyhdistys and apply directly from internet. I didn't find it in english, but here is the link in finnish:
http://www.hyotykasviyhdistys.fi/palstahakemus.shtml


They have gardens also in other places in helsinki, the list is in the page.
I wish you good luck with the finding! Everybody who wants get sooner or later a garden in helsinki.

But now I'm interested to know... which plants can you cultivate in winter? do you know the name and the place where is possible to find them?

Thanks for the help! I actually sent an email to that association for useful plants a few weeks ago, because I didn't quite understand their form and wanted to know if they'd be willing to deal with someone who doesn't speak much Finnish (I even read about some gardening association that only takes Swedish-speakers). Since I got no reply, I assumed that meant "no". Well, now I filled in the form anyway.

As for what to cultivate in winter, and how, there are some good tips here, for example: http://www.humeseeds.com/falwint.htm
or here: http://www.pfaf.org/leaflets/winsalad.php - although certainly not all of those "winter" plants would work in talvi

[EP]

certainly not all of those "winter" plants would work in talvi

Well, none of them would, the ground is frozen and nothing grows. The roots may stay alive (or not), but nothing will grow before April/May. And there is nothing to harvest before Midsummer.