LIFESTYLE CHOICES: A rewarding experience

Allotments – small plots of around 250 square metres – have been a feature of European cities since the early days of industrialization. Typically, they are owned by municipalities, and rented for a small fee to city-dwellers who want to grow their own vegetables, fruits and flowers and raise chickens for eggs and meat. You might think that in today’s industrialized world they were an outdated idea – far from it. TUNZA intern Emily Keal and her friend Lee Reid both spend time on the Reid family’s allotment – and enjoy the fruits of their labour.

Chemical weedkillers and pesticides are in the armoury of the majority of farmers and land-owners fighting to keep pests and diseases at bay. But the solution to a problem can become a problem, which many feel is what’s happened with food production today. There is an alternative, however, in the traditional allotments dotted around Britain. A look at the Reid’s family allotment provides plenty of food for thought, and for the table! Everything from potatoes to melons is grown organically.

Norton, a small town in northeast England, is home to 160 allotments where people own chickens and grow their own fruit and vegetables. Dating back to the 1930s, these allotments provide a taste of old Britain with a new twist, as people seek to balance family budgets at a time of austerity by growing their own food. Other factors coming into play are to eat more healthily while helping the environment and avoiding the massively over-packaged products on supermarket shelves.

A virtuous circle is completed on the Reid’s allotment by composting anything from leaves to teabags and even eggshells. Every year they rotate the crops using a different patch of ground to avoid pests and diseases and keep the best balance of nutrients in the soil. All the composted material is eventually returned to the soil to nurture it naturally for the next crop. As Steve Reid said, ‘a lot of time and effort goes into the allotment, yet it’s a very rewarding experience: everything we grow we eat’. Not only is their organically grown produce better for wildlife and the environment, it’s also a lot healthier for the family!

With the current concerns about climate change, any reduction in the journeys taken by our food will reduce the effect we have on the environment. It has been estimated that the ingredients that make up the average family Christmas in the UK clock up about 77,000 kilometres, almost equivalent to twice round the world! These ‘food kilometres’ all contribute to our car-bon footprint, so even growing some vegetables in the garden helps combat global warming. Vegetables produced by Steve and his wife Jane on their allotment only travel a short distance from plot to pot at their home, a matter of minutes away.

Allotments are becoming more and more popular because of today’s current climate, both environmentally and financially.

If you’re interested, follow the Reid’s five basic principles for growing your own!

Soil preparation: digging and manuring.
Weeding: removing weeds from soil.
Composting: improving the soil by adding vegetable waste that has been broken down through natural processes.
Sowing: placing seeds in soil and watering.
Pricking out: transferring seedlings from the greenhouse to the plot when they are big enough.