A year-round activity, allotments bring great rewards – satisfaction from tasks well done; as well as a bounteous crop of fruit and vegetables every year for you and your family to enjoy. You really cannot beat growing your own produce.
Allotment owner of more than 12 years, John Sturrock has always enjoyed gardening but his house in West Ealing only has a small yard, so the opportunity to have his own allotment became an attractive proposition. His allotment is pictured above.
John said: “It’s a pleasure to be outside working in the earth and to enjoy peas, tomatoes, raspberries and other produce straight from the plant.
“I also wanted my children to know that food grows in the ground, not in packages on supermarket shelves.”
John currently grows plums, apples, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, beetroot, spinach, celeriac, kale, tomatoes, broad beans, French beans and peas in his plot.
Apples growing on John’s allotment
Not only does it benefit your pockets, in savings on fruit and vegetables from the supermarket, but allotment owners also find many benefits to their health and wellbeing too:
Your corner of calm
One of the most notable and often mentioned benefits of allotment gardening is the positive effects of ‘green exercise’ on physical and mental health. Just 30 minutes of gardening burns around 150 calories and spending time outside in the fresh air and sunshine builds up your vitamin D levels and is a proven mood-booster.
Community oriented
Many people admit that they take on an allotment for the socialisation aspect and to meet new, like-minded people.
Grassroots education
There are fewer more rewarding experiences than teaching children the satisfaction of growing their own food. Sharing the gardening tasks with children actively engages them in learning, to support healthy living and sustainable development, and in a fun way.
Reduce your carbon footprint
Growing locally not only reduces your carbon footprint (often linked with driving to out-of-town supermarkets) but, most significantly, by buying less packaged food in supermarkets you will have less household waste to fill your bins with.
