No longer just the preserve of flat-capped old boys, the allotment is taking the country by storm. The desire to connect with the land can be indulged by spending a few hours a week pottering about a vegetable patch. Gardening has been proven to be therapeutic and calming, even a defence against depression, not to mention the pleasure that comes from a glut of seasonal, organic fruit and vegetables gracing your kitchen table.
As many of us live in towns and cities and are unable get our thumbs green at home, allotments offer a solution. Under Section 23 of the Allotments Act of 1908, local councils are obliged to provide allotments to meet public demand. The Independent began a campaign in May to preserve this right after it was feared that the government would begin to sell off allotments. The Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has since promised that the service will not be scrapped. Despite councils creating new allotment sites, however, they are struggling to meet soaring numbers; last year’s review showed that for every 100 plots in use, there are 57 people waiting for plots.
Just looking around your local area shows there is plenty of available land to be grown on, both public and private. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, chef and campaigner, began encouraging communities to start growing collectively on disused public land. He took a step further by creating a landshare website. With over 60,000 members and counting, the scheme connects growers with no access to land to those with a bit of land spare. Both parties benefit; growers can feed their passion and owners enjoy a share of the bumper crop.
Eating seasonally means you eat a wider range of foods and it encourages you to be more creative and thrifty in making your food go as far as possible. And best of all it’s virtually free; with the main ingredient being good old-fashioned elbow grease. Growing your own vegetables allows you to use piecemeal techniques to look after the health of your produce and the land you’re growing on. Here are some top tips for growing organically:
- Get to know your soil. Grow plants that suit the soil conditions, rather than trying to adjust the soil with improvers too drastically.
- Practise crop rotation. This means not planting a crop from the same family in the same site for at least three years. This improves soil fertility and reduces pests and disease.
- Use natural fertilizers and manure instead of strong chemical fertilizers. Synthetic chemicals penetrate the skins of plants and stay there - even if they have been scrubbed.
- Grow your own compost from garden and kitchen waste. The compost can be used to enrich your soil and for potting mixes and you’ll be reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill at the same time.
- Prune your plants and check for pests regularly, removing them physically if you can. Use natural traps such as beer bait for slugs.
For detailed month-by-month advice for going organic in your allotment, visit the Soil Association’s Grow Organic website.
No comments:
Post a Comment