Court Lane Allotments

Radio 4′s “You and Yours” programme had an interesting article on last Friday (5th June). It featured an allotmenteer in Cheltenham who had received warning letters from his local council threatening eviction for not having enough of the land set aside for growing fruit and veg on his plots. I think this is an interesting topic for debate. I had understood, from reading a bit about the history of allotments, that the reason they were started up was to provide people with opportunities not only to grow produce, but also to enjoy leisure gardening. In fact the association, to give it its full title, is The National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners.

I, myself, have part of my plot dedicated to a wildlife pond. It is planted up with native species such as water mint, yellow flag, starwort and many others which oxygenate the water and keep it clear to encourage water-dwelling creatures. I have tadpoles, water boatmen, pond skaters and last summer I had visiting dragonflies. It is also a drinking resouce for the larger animals such as birds, hedgehogs and foxes, which are all predators to the slugs and grubs who might want to nibble our veg. To encourage beneficial insects, I have several flowers on my plot (most of them native wildflowers). I also currently have an expanse of grass on my plot, but the eventual intention is to dig over most of it for fruit and veg. The grass is mown weekly and is therefore “weed-control” rather than part of the overall design, until I can do more digging.

I would hate to think that those of us who like to balance our plots between growing fruit and veg and providing habitats for wildlife would be targetted in the same way as the man from Cheltenham. If the council wanted to make more allotments available, perhaps they could again open up the area of wasteland to the east of the site, which used to be allotments once upon a time.

What do you think?