I don’t know about the merits of the Duke vs. the gardeners, but I enjoyed this article for the insight into UK “allotment” culture.
Alex Stonor
7 months ago
The author’s growing & harvesting experience is not typical of all plotholders; the allotments where my plot is, feed families all year round and that is especially important at this time of inflated food prices. The allotment, like the kitchen garden engenders a level of agency & independence to those who toil and plant. The jams & liqueurs I make tick gift boxes for birthdays & Christmas too; no ultra-processed produce here. It’s not all about London; spoilt b*****d that it is.
“Although allotments are not unique to the United Kingdom, they do seem to exert a special tug in this country”. This is not actually true. The German Kleingartenkolonien form a more important part of cultural life over there than allotments do here. See https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleingarten, which lists 264,000 Kleingarten in the major cities alone. There are estimated to be 900,000 Kleingarten in the country as a whole, which compares with an estimated 330,000 allotments. They are very different from allotments however, far smarter & ornamental rather than utilitarian – places to have barbecues when weather permits, or just lounge around in at weekends. Plus you will never find a scruffy hut filled with old paint pots, rotting rolls of carpet and the like on a German Kleingarten. Anybody failing to keep their plot spick and span would soon be out on their ear.
Last year, a German man put me up for a night in the “shed” on his allotment in Erfurt. It was the lap of luxury!
Simon Neale
7 months ago
“Best of all, I erected a tiny plastic greenhouse to shelter my tomatoes. The brawny, pubescent stink of leaping growth stays with me.”
Steady, Alex! Don’t let enthusiasm tip over into something worse!
James Kirk
7 months ago
They’ll be lost like everything of our more gentler past. New builds hardly have gardens and the young have little interest in gardens beyond BBQs, football and dog toilets. There’s little economic benefit from allotments. By the time you’ve defeated the caterpillars, slugs and snails and fed the birds, driven back and forth with water, you may as well have driven to the supermarket and had a pint on the way home. There’ll be no dig for victory next time.
I have read hundreds of articles at Unherd, most I finish, some I don’t and very occasionally I scroll back to the top to see who this writer is who writes so well. This was one of the latter.
Paul Hemphill
7 months ago
Back in the day in Birmingham, there were many allotments in the vicinity of our Yardley Wood home. On train journeys you’d see allotments as you entered towns and cities, with their little sheds and greenhouses, their trellises for beans and peas and the verdant crowns of spuds and cabbages.
We were fortunate enough to half a large backyard in which my father, from rural Ireland, would raise all manner of winter vegetables. Such is the way life works out, I now live on a rural acreage and my city-born wife cultivates a large and productive veggie garden – when we are not in drought or flood (which is all too often these days)
Josie Bowen
7 months ago
It’s lovely to hear that a teenager would be bothered cultivating vegetables in an allotment, it must have taught you patience and the value of food. Well done.
I don’t know about the merits of the Duke vs. the gardeners, but I enjoyed this article for the insight into UK “allotment” culture.
The author’s growing & harvesting experience is not typical of all plotholders; the allotments where my plot is, feed families all year round and that is especially important at this time of inflated food prices. The allotment, like the kitchen garden engenders a level of agency & independence to those who toil and plant. The jams & liqueurs I make tick gift boxes for birthdays & Christmas too; no ultra-processed produce here. It’s not all about London; spoilt b*****d that it is.
Come harsh times the scallies and gypsies will help themselves to your abundance. I hope you’re prepared to defend it.
True. I ate people’s strawberries as a child.
“Although allotments are not unique to the United Kingdom, they do seem to exert a special tug in this country”. This is not actually true. The German Kleingartenkolonien form a more important part of cultural life over there than allotments do here. See https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleingarten, which lists 264,000 Kleingarten in the major cities alone. There are estimated to be 900,000 Kleingarten in the country as a whole, which compares with an estimated 330,000 allotments. They are very different from allotments however, far smarter & ornamental rather than utilitarian – places to have barbecues when weather permits, or just lounge around in at weekends. Plus you will never find a scruffy hut filled with old paint pots, rotting rolls of carpet and the like on a German Kleingarten. Anybody failing to keep their plot spick and span would soon be out on their ear.
Last year, a German man put me up for a night in the “shed” on his allotment in Erfurt. It was the lap of luxury!
“Best of all, I erected a tiny plastic greenhouse to shelter my tomatoes. The brawny, pubescent stink of leaping growth stays with me.”
Steady, Alex! Don’t let enthusiasm tip over into something worse!
They’ll be lost like everything of our more gentler past. New builds hardly have gardens and the young have little interest in gardens beyond BBQs, football and dog toilets. There’s little economic benefit from allotments. By the time you’ve defeated the caterpillars, slugs and snails and fed the birds, driven back and forth with water, you may as well have driven to the supermarket and had a pint on the way home. There’ll be no dig for victory next time.
Amusingly droll.
I have read hundreds of articles at Unherd, most I finish, some I don’t and very occasionally I scroll back to the top to see who this writer is who writes so well. This was one of the latter.
Back in the day in Birmingham, there were many allotments in the vicinity of our Yardley Wood home. On train journeys you’d see allotments as you entered towns and cities, with their little sheds and greenhouses, their trellises for beans and peas and the verdant crowns of spuds and cabbages.
We were fortunate enough to half a large backyard in which my father, from rural Ireland, would raise all manner of winter vegetables. Such is the way life works out, I now live on a rural acreage and my city-born wife cultivates a large and productive veggie garden – when we are not in drought or flood (which is all too often these days)
It’s lovely to hear that a teenager would be bothered cultivating vegetables in an allotment, it must have taught you patience and the value of food. Well done.
I wouldn’t like to have to decide on this one.