Looking forwards

It’s a dispiriting time of year, I will be honest with you, and without the office, I’m finding myself turning into a ‘fair weather’ allotment visitor! So I decided to sit down today and remind myself why allotments are so important – not so much making resolutions and focusing on what I would lose if I didn’t have that regular contact with growing things:

Allotments are good for the planet – home grown veg saves airmiles, preserves diversity, encourages healthy eating and reminds us to get our five a day (not difficult when the summer veggies are piling up outside the door by the barrowload) so we place less strain on our health and our health service.

Allotments are good for people – fresh air, exercise, growing your own food, companionship etc – all these are available at our allotment site (at least when the shed is open, otherwise the last becomes quite a bit scarcer) and all these contribute to physical and mental wellbeing.

Allotments are fun – we’ve learned to cook with medlars and horseradish, pak choi and cobnuts, since we started allotmenteering, all because our neighbours shared crops or seed or good advice. Our diet is more varied and our appreciation for different crops is enhanced by this share and share alike approach to growing things.

Allotments are good for wildlife – we’ve seen goldfinches, hawks, rabbits, badgers, foxes, Adonis Blue butterflies and skylarks on allotment sites around the country – they serve as a safe place and rich feeding ground for much of our rarest and most threatened natural biodiversity.

And come the summer, when I’m picking ripe peaches from Andy’s tree, I shall wonder why I ever thought it was too much trouble to pull my boots on and head for the allotment …

Labels: allotment-crops, allotment-resolutions