Allotments - Grow your own Veg!

With developers forcing more and more houses onto a plot of land, we end up with gardens with not enough room to swing a cat…not that you should do that if you have a big garden!  Allotments are a fantastic way of getting a bit more space to grown some vegetables and plants away from home.  They’re not even that expensive - I think my uncle pays less than £15 a year for his, so for the opportunity to grow a lot of fresh and seasonable produce it is well worth it!  You usually rent your allotment for a small yearly fee of the local council, sometimes it will be from an allotment association.

History wise - here’s a tit bit of information for you!  Allotments first came around in about 1732 where they have been found on the outskirts of Birmingham.

Initially allotments would have been places for the poor to grow their vegetables; but don’t let their past put you off.  Either start with some seeds or use some plants which have already started to grow and find out if you have green fingers.  There’s a whole host of things you could plant, why not try something you use a lot of at home - such as herbs, carrots, swedes, salad items - whatever!  Not only will you get the pleasure of seeing the project through, getting tastey fruit and vegetables (or beautiful plants) you also get around a main environmental concern of purchasing excessively plastic wrapped items from your local supermarket.

So far I’ve only suggested a few things you could grow, but you could go a lot further by making something with your produce, such as Jams and Preserves.  If you end up with too many you could give some as presents to friends and family - or even put up an honesty box at the end of the drive and try selling some of your items for a little bit of money.

In 2006 some bad news came about from the London Assembly saying that Allotment land was diminishing.  Geoff Stokes from the national Society for Allotments claimed that “[T]hey sold off land when demand was not so high. This will go on because developers are now building houses with much smaller gardens.”.  Since then a Local Government group has asked councils to make developers set aside land to make up the amount of allotment plots.

So if you can find an available allotment grab it up, get out your Wellies and spade and go plant some of your own plants!  If you’ve got one let me know what you plan on growing…or have/are growing - any recommendations for the poor weather we’re having?