I first got an allotment when I was still officially a child - just under 21 years old - and the Council were delighted somebody had asked for one! Now it is a wait of about 6 years and the Council charge a fortune for these tiny spaces. I started with a standard 10 rod plot but in the early 90s they were closed and houses built and the replacement allotments with a shed and water supply were a year late. They were also only two and a half rods. Impossibly small, but I was able to bag 2 plots. The soil around here is terrible, sand on clay, probably a relic from the end of the ice-age. In its natural state, not even grass grows well, but I persevere for mental and physical health benefits. Any produce is an extra benefit. Some years the onions grow, another year it will be corn or courgettes that unexpectedly do well. Many plot holders give up quickly as their expectations of cheap veg are shattered. I spend another £80 a year on deliveries of bags of manure and compost (when I can source it) or I would grow nothing. No room for compost heaps.
I really miss Wilko's! Luckily my daughter, who lives 40 miles away, brings me their seeds from The Range. Otherwise my packet of Swift sweetcorn would cost me £3.50 instead of £1.50.
I have to use a mobility scooter to get to my allotment now and still end up doing what I can while sitting down, to save my legs for the hard stuff. But I am determined to keep going as long as I am able. I am the last of the original plot holders now.
