One night in January my good friend Luke rang me up and asked me if I wanted to take on an allotment with him and two of his friends (nobody told me he had other friends!). Without hesitation I said no, because I didn’t think I would have enough time to put into it, and the last thing I would want to do is say yes and then let him down. When I got off the phone my girlfriend Michelle asked who was on the phone. I told her about the conversation I had just had and all she said to me was ‘are you mad?’
Now you have to understand that for me to say no was a little strange because all I do is read gardening and smallholding books and magazines. I also talk a lot about things I would like to grow, animals I would like to keep and one day living the dream and having my own smallholding. So when I turned Luke down he was shocked and so was Michelle. She encouraged me to go and have a look at the plot that Luke had taken on so a couple of days later I did just that. From the moment I saw the plot I was in, even though Luke informed me that his two other friends had pulled out of the project (I knew he was lying about having other friends).
What a mess, I had never seen a rougher patch of land but from that moment on we knew it was ours, were we mad? Myself and Luke are virgin allotmenteers, the only things we had grown in the past were some tomatoes and beans in our gardens and not very successfully. So here we go, what an exciting challenge.
As you can see from the website that Luke has created (what a clever lad he is), we have had a few challenges along the way. I must admit when we first started the project I thought we were a bit mad because of the enormity of it and didn’t think that we would get anything to grow in our first year. After a lot of digging for what seemed like weeks the plot started to take shape.
We have been working our plot now for several months and I am amazed with not only what we have achieved, but also that we have actually got veg growing where once there was a bramble patch. A lot of hard graft has gone into our plot - clearing, digging, weeding, planting and finally harvesting and I have enjoyed every minute of it.
We are only able to put one full day per week into our plot plus watering when needed during the week after work. Not much of a hardship when you think of the rewards you get.
Out of all the veg we have attempted to grow so far I think my favourites are potatoes, courgettes/squashes, beans and onions. Over the past few months between the two of us we have managed to grow quite a wide variety of fruit and veg, it’s a fantastic feeling. I am very excited about the rest of the years growing and also the longer term plans we have for the other plot we took on. I find myself looking forward to Saturdays up the allotment, to the exercise I am getting and all the new friends we are making along the way. You see, my thoughts of people who had allotments were of old men in flat caps smoking their pipe and talking about how their sprouts were doing, how wrong was I?
Today’s allotment owners range from the seasoned old timers (who have a wealth of knowledge), to complete novices, young families and students wanting to eat a fresher tastier produce. We feel very privileged to have been allowed to join this group of very friendly and helpful people who will I am sure become life long friends.
I would just like to thank Luke who had the enthusiasm and drive to take on this project in the first place and also wanting me to do it with him, because we are now able to drop into the plot on the way home from work, pick fresh fruit and veg and cook it within minutes of it coming out of the ground. It is an amazing feeling and so much tastier. If we are able to do something as rewarding as this by having the enthusiasm and the help from our fellow allotmenteers then so can you!
We are beginning to live our dream – go live yours!
If you had told me in 2005 that in a years time I would have an allotment I wouldn't have believed you. Based on events in my childhood and throughout my scholarly life, I have never once shown an interest in gardening. Throughout boyhood, my father had always been an avid gardener and I never really understood it. Flowers were pointless because you couldn't eat them and vegetables were pointless because I only ever used to eat sausages and mashed potatoes. My dad would take us out on a family outing on a Sunday, which was sometimes somewhere cool like a beach or waterfalls. However, if we were really unlucky, my brother, sister and I would be dragged to a garden centre. Ugh! My dad would wander around at his leisure as I messed around in the sheds.
Whilst in school, college and university it was never even a consideration. I was into movies and computers and that was it. Looking back now, one of the houses I rented as a student had a HUGE garden, which in hindsight I now regret not cultivating with all manner of veg.
Despite my lack of interest in gardening, I was convinced into buying a couple of tomato plants and an aubergine plant in April 2005 by my girlfriend, Susanna - again a keen gardener. Su is more of a flower gardener, which I am slowly beginning to appreciate. I got a growbag and stuck all three plants in it. I didn't care so much about the tomatoes but was rather enamoured with the aubergine because it was part of my favourite meal, moussaka.
However, this soon changed as the tomatoes grew rapidly up and up and up! They were so easy to grow. I enjoyed the two tomato plants so much that I bought some heirloom varieties as seeds. It was a little late but I got a fantastic crop of Gardener's Delight, Auroras and Costoluto Fiorentino. I also got some De Barbentane aubergines which tasted amazing! I have never tasted tomatoes and aubergines as nice as the ones I grew. I had grown them with love and it hadn't taken much effort at all for so much flavour.
Even up until the end of 2005, I wouldn't have thought that I would get an allotment. For one, I didn't know how to go about it and two, I didn't know how much it cost. I was expecting it to be really expensive. I had a few friends who were interested in going in with me if I got a plot. I thought that a 10 perch plot would be a bit too much for one person to cope with. So I was going to split it between myself and two friends from work.
Tim had always shown interest in getting a smallholding so I thought that he would be a prime candidate for an allotment. I gave him a call and he turned me down. I couldn't believe it! The day after getting my plot, I took Su, Tim and Michelle around the Colchester Avenue site. I showed them my bramble plot and all around other people's plots and talked to a few people. Tim was convinced by the time we got back to the car!
Since then it's been an absolute pleasure to be up on the allotment every Saturday. There's a bit of camaraderie, a bit of exercise, a bit of gardening and a huge reward at the end of it. I work for a production company, which can sometimes get quite stressful. The allotment is an ideal way to unwind and I often daydream about the allotment and how I would love to be there to do a little digging.
The allotment could just be a stepping stone to something bigger. Tim and I are looking for a smallholding but we have to convince the girlies that we should give up the city life in favour of a country house and 10 acres. We both do the lottery for exactly this purpose! We'll get there yet. We've looked into Carmarthenshire and as far afield as Bulgaria in our desperation to get a nice plot of land.
In the mean time, the sum of £68 per year for our two 10 perch plots is an absolute bargain. It's only £3.40 per perch and our allotment site have, for the first time, now got a waiting list for plots. It seems that a lot more people are cottoning onto this growing your own lark.
I just can't believe that I am now dragging my dad to garden centres and not the other way round.
