Getting to the root of the green renaissance...

Allotments are enjoying a boom time. Kath Finlay reports on why there's now a trend to grow your own
Getting to the root of the green renaissanceGetting to the root of the green renaissance
Getting to the root of the green renaissance

It is not too long ago that the allotment holder was a figure of fun, usually male, invariably decked out in a flat cap and pictured sitting in a shed puffing on a pipe.

Not so now.

Allotment holders are a very different bunch.

Getting to the root of the green renaissanceGetting to the root of the green renaissance
Getting to the root of the green renaissance

Toiling alongside each other on neighbouring plots are likely to be a doctor, a teacher, a retired miner, stay at home mum – or Jeremy Corbyn if you are growing your own food in Islington.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The interest in the provenance of what we eat, food miles, healthy living, environmental concerns and, latterly, austerity has fuelled a renewed interest in growing our own.

Working an allotment is cool and the waiting list for plots across the UK stands at more than 90,000 names.

The history of allotments from medieval times is linked to poverty and need.

Getting to the root of the green renaissanceGetting to the root of the green renaissance
Getting to the root of the green renaissance

The boom started in the 19th century with rapid industrialisation and the lack of a welfare state.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It was the Dig for Victory campaign of WW2 that really popularised allotments.

The war effort and rationing along with the need to be self-sufficient saw parkland and public space being dug over for cultivation.

Those of a certain age will remember the hugely popular BBC sitcom The Good Life, which featured a couple of innocents living an alternative lifestyle, which included growing their own food, in snooty Surbiton.

It was a programme of its time as the 1970s, that era of industrial unrest with the three-day week and strikes by power workers and miners, also saw an upsurge in growing food as hard-pressed families struggled to make ends’ meet.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In 2018, if money is no object, the most exotic of produce is available year-round from the local supermarket.

Yet still there is the attraction of sowing, nurturing, harvesting and eating something that you can say “I grew that” even if it is the humble spud.

Three years ago, with an empty nest and more time on our hands, we decided to give the Good Life (sort of) a go. Our time on the waiting list was shorter than expected, months rather than years, and we had a choice of several plots on a site a mile from home.

There was some hard labour clearing the overgrown plot we plumped for (thankfully our local council splits the traditional sized plot into more manageable quarter sizes), a bit of construction work erecting the obligatory shed and creating some raised beds and time spent on working out how to outwit the pests who like to make their home on an organic plot before we could start filling the trug with home-grown produce.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The first season it was rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb with a few potatoes, onions and leeks thrown in.

Now we also enjoy homegrown sprouts and parsnips with Christmas dinner, endless green beans and salad crops and delicious raspberries.

Feeling guilty that my breakfast blueberries travelled all the way from Peru or Chile I duly planted some, but so far the biggest beneficiaries have been the pesky pigeons.

We’re pretty much self-sufficient for basics like onions and shallots for most of the year in and the freezer is heaving. I’ve even taken to making jam too.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

We’ve definitely upped our fruit and veg intake too; it’s true fresh and homegrown tastes so much better.

The work involved is not as much as we expected - though a full-size plot would mean putting in more hours on the basics like weeding and watering.

It’s not all about the food though. Gardening is a great form of exercise – burning 150 calories an hour if you’re interested in such things – and being outdoors is the perfect antidote to a day spent behind a desk and is acknowledged to be great for mental health.

The site is quite a community too, a mix of old-time allotment holders (yup there are pigeon lofts and massive, perfect veg grown for shows) and enthusiastic newbies, including a fair number of women working their own plots. Our fellow allotment holders are a friendly bunch too, sharing tips, plants and home made cake.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

There’s also a community allotment where gardeners grow for their own use, but also donate produce to be sold at the community shop giving hard-pressed families the chance to buy healthy, fresh, seasonal, locally grown produce for a very reasonable price.

If you are already a convert to growing your own, a team of university researchers would like to hear from you.

n Volunteers needed to complete a year’s worth of diaries to assist University of Sheffield research project.

Data will help investigate the ways allotments are used, how people manage their crops and how often they visit their plot as well as uses of pesticide and homemade compost.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Volunteers of al levels of experience, ability and styles of growing are needed. Contact My harvest.org.uk/2017/12/calling-all-growers. Or email [email protected]

Green fingers busy on Fylde

Allotments can be traced back to medieval times but really took off in the 19th century with land given over to the labouring poor for food production.

1908: The Smallholdings and Allotments Act placed a duty on local authorities to provide land; after the end of WW1 land had to be available to all to help returning soldiers.

Allotments Act 1925

1925 :Local authorities could not sell off or convert allotments without ministerial permission

1950: Allotments Act established the right to keep hens and rabbits on allotments.