Garden innovations - allotments

There's a lot more to allotments than there used to be. If your idea is skinny men in caps and overalls looking lugubriously over ranks of giant leeks and Brussels sprouts, think again. These days many allotments are organic, some are rented by schools, women make up a third of the renters and sexy vegetables abound. Most people know that they need to reduce their stress and take more exercise and increasingly, allotments are being 'prescribed' by doctors to help the obese, the stressed, those with high blood pressure or people recovering from strokes and heart attacks.

And, of course, it's a way of getting your hands on some valuable gardening space and exploring a whole new social life. There's no phone on an allotment (unless you're silly enough to take one with you) and your husband/boss/child can't find you and ask you to come and deal with something in the house.

Most councils and local authorities have a department which deals with the allocation of allotments. If you're interested in getting an allotment, a telephone call will often give you all the information you need, including how to get application packs in places where there is a waiting list. There are also an increasing number of privately-run sites and your local library, garden centre or Citizen's Advice Bureau may have details of these. They can cost anything from a tenner to a hundred pounds a year and many have concessionary rates for older or disadvantaged people and the unemployed.

Always, always explore the prospective sites carefully before signing a rental agreement. You need to examine all the facilities on offer, such as an on-site shop - very common these days, although open only a few hours a week, parking, toilets and running water. Have a chat with any plot holders you meet to find out what it's like there. One thing to be aware off is the risk of vandalism - try to look around the area for graffiti and broken fences and get a sense of whether all your hard work might be destroyed in a night of stupid violence. Generally though, allotments are safe, calm, productive places and well worth the investment.

Garden innovation allotment photograph by fridgerock, used under a creative commons attribution licence.