A sense of community

Today I was given a gift from a new found allotment friend – a bronze bowl full of mange tout peas ready to plant –and this set me thinking on the question I’m sometimes asked ‘what’s the big deal about allotments’. For me the main big deal is that we have a tiny, ‘ no room to swing a cat’ garden. An allotment gives us the space and freedom to dig and grow to our hearts’ content…but it’s more than that. I’d rather grow veg in the allotment than in the garden. Now it’s hard to say why given the problems an allotment can pose: for instance, you can’t just step out of your back door to pull a carrot or snip a few spinach leaves  you have to remember to bring whatever produce you want back with you or make a special trip there. You often have to lug your tools - fork, spade, watering can – from home unless you are lucky enough to have 2 sets – one to keep on the site - and even then you might find them mysteriously snaffled overnight! Then of course you have to remember the allotment gate key every time  you go … yes every time, unless of course,  having forgotten it you are foolhardy enough to attempt to climb over . This is an experience I really wouldn’t recommend having got stuck  perilously and uncomfortably  halfway over. While my knuckles whitened from the strain of hanging on I smiled and nodded at curious passers by as if this were all part of my usual daily routine, … I’ve never forgotten the key again. But all these inconveniences are merely trivial in the face of so many intangible joys. There is so much here you cannot replicate in a garden:  the sense of a really wide open space slap in the middle of a city where sounds of birdsong mingle with sirens and the roar of the rush hour traffic; the sense of community – chattering  with fellow plot-holders (what are you seeding now? When do you prune blackcurrant bushes and so on), the shared commiseration over lost crops, and above all – remembering my bronze bowl of mange tout - the generosity of my fellow allotmenteers, who give help and encouragement whenever needed.