The allotment phenomenon

The cult of grow your own has become massive this year. Maybe it's the credit crunch driving us back to a simpler way of life, a hobby that saves us money not one that eats through our finances. Maybe it's the inevitable next step in the green revolution. Or maybe all those hours of watching Hugh do it on River Cottage have finally paid off. Almost everyone I know is growing something this year and it's a great community to be part of. A mild panic I had during the week about my potatoes was soon assuaged by talking to a fellow gardener.

I guess part of the reason I moved to the country was to be able to grow my own and become more sustainable, which is why I often feel a bit sorry for those who live in apartments or the city. There is a lot that can be done with window boxes and planters but if you want to be more adventurous, don't have a garden and really want to get your hands, boots and clothes dirty, an allotment could be the way to go.

Originally hailing from England my view of allotments has always been of old men with flat caps accompanied by whippets putting their feet up in a ramshackle shed. A view which was probably influenced by popular culture, allotments were spaces which soap opera characters like Arthur Fowler and Jack Duckworth inhabited. Coming from the suburbs allotments weren't something that I had first hand experience of, everyone in the 'burbs has their own garden!

I went to college in the north of England, just outside Newcastle and the allotment was far more prevalent there. I went to a photographic exhibition on the subject, the black and white prints of people enjoying the allotment life, growing food, pigeon fancying, being part of a community was enough to sell the whole concept to me.

It is this romantic view of allotments which has stuck with me, and when I learned of community allotment schemes beginning to spring up across Ireland I was delighted.

Earlier this year I bumped into a business contact of mine, Mary from Taxing Times, she told me that she was involved in the Harbour View Community Garden Project. The community received a grant of €2,500 to convert a 3 acre plot of vacant land into allotments. A lot of work had to be done to clear and prepare the ground, a task which the community took on together. Well wishers donated equipment and even trees.

The allotments are now being rented, the proceeds of which will go back into the garden with the intention of establishing a native woodland and orchard.

This is just one of many stories of thriving communities across Ireland pulling together to create gardening space. To keep up to date with news on allotments near you check out Allotments Ireland, you can also follow them on Twitter.

Back in the UK it seems politicians across the spectrum are encouraging the grow your own movement. Boris Johnson and Gordon Brown have both been in the news due to their green fingers. Mr Brown has even taken a leaf out of President Obama's book and declared that he and his wife are to grow veg in the garden at No. 10. So the allotment phenomenon seems to be here to stay.

*please excuse the quality of the images which were grabbed from a scanned document

Seedlings and our first harvest.

A month on from planting our first seeds and some of them looked to be doing really well. We've been dyeing to plant them out but according to my gardening advisers it's still too cold at night to do this full time. The beans in particular are getting way too big for the tray. It was suggested to me that we could start putting the trays out during the day so that they would begin to get accustomed to the outside world.

They were looking gorgeous in their trays, big sprouts everywhere. So out they went for their first view of the sun. By the end of the day they didn't look quite so happy, some of them seemed to have dried out altogether, others just collapsed back into the compost. Next day we kept them out of the Sun but still outside in the shade, they fared slightly better. Now at the end of the week that lovely sunshine and warmth seems like a distant memory yet our seeds seem to be recovering a bit. Two of the Beetroot stems have thrived looking stronger and hardier than ever and the beans are still rocketing in height. Some of the seeds will have to be started again from scratch, but there is still plenty of time. In the mean time if anyone has any suggestions on how to make the leap from indoor to outdoor without all the casualties please leave a comment.

To make up for the disappointment I decided to take the first harvest from the garden. One of the things that thrives in our garden, and probably in most gardens is Nettles. They are young at the moment so there is no better time to be gathering some for nettle soup. So out I went in my yellow marigold gloves and clipped the new growth from all the nettles I could find. An hour later my carrier bag was bursting with free food. I have to admit to being a little apprehensive at the idea of eating nettles, would they taste good? would they sting? It also seemed a little strange to be cooking whilst wearing washing up gloves but it did help me get through the whole experience sting free.

I now have enough soup to feed me for at least a week! I'm going to be sending the recipe to my recipe of the month subscribers so if you want to know how to make your own free food sign up on the right hand side of this page. Next on the agenda is Dandelion Wine!

My Challenge 2009 - Grow my own veg.

The last year or so seems to have seen a massive interest in growing your own. Gazing out of the window at my snow covered mess of a back garden I wonder when my proposed vegetable garden is going to become a reality. Over the last few years I have gathered many books on the subject and just need to take the first step towards growing my own food.

Our garden has been overgrown for a long time. When we moved in it had been lying farrell for many years, since then we have cleared and trimmed the evergreen trees which were robbing our land of natural light which has seemed to encourage weeds at an alarming rate.

This year, I have decided is going to be the year. I've earmarked a corner of the garden that is to become my first bed and intend to build a raised bed there. I won some gardening tools in a raffle recently and I must have some offcuts of wood that can help me create my bed. I also received a gift of some seeds pre-planted in propagating trays so I'm ready to go if only this snow would lift.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to record the progress of the garden here and blog guilt will add to my gardening guilt and the vegetable bed will finally become a reality.

What I really need is encouragement and help so if any of you have suggestions of blogs or websites that can help me along my way. Or even if you have your own tips on how to grow best organically I would be delighted to follow them and publish them here.

Here's to happy gardening!