Topic: Changing face of the "Allotment"

[Glyn]

THERE'S a revolution going on down on the allotment. Gardeners are abandoning traditional vegetable plots in pursuit of the weird and wonderful.

Rows of brassicas and salads are being dug up and replaced with vineyards, chicken runs and even tobacco plantations. With 330,000 plots in the UK, there's plenty of room to experiment. And the number of people glad to pay out £20 a month to rent a patch is swelling by 10 per cent a year.

To mark National Allotments Week, LUKE DAVID scoured the country in search of some of Britain's most wild and wacky plots. Here are seven of the best.

LITTLE BRITAIN IS A 12-YEAR DREAM


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GORDON Chester shows off his pride and joy: an English country garden complete with miniature Stonehenge.


The 69-year-old from Newcastle upon Tyne stopped growing vegetables on his allotment 12 years ago to follow a dream. He has transformed his 20x30ft plot into a miniature slice of England, with manicured lawns and village pond.


The retired PR manager made the scale model of Stonehenge from an old fireplace and surrounded it with raised flower beds, fruit trees and a pond complete with a wooden footbridge.


Gordon, who spends three hours a day on his plot in the Little Moor area of the city, says: "This is my little piece of England. I have tried to create the essence of the English countryside - a place to get away from it all, with flowers and a pond."


His wife doesn't share his passion. "She is an allotment widow," he says. "But I bring her home the flowers I grow and that keeps her happy."


PLANT YOURSELVES RIGHT HERE, LADS


THESE Londoners prefer to BBQ their food, not grow it.


Every weekend the plot holders on Rosendale allotments in West Dulwich, South East London, get together for a drink and some grub around somebody's grill.


"It's very sociable down here," says Bob Dixon. "We are always BBQing and eating out. Fridays are the best. People come straight from work, and instead of going home for their dinner we have a big cook-out."


FLOWER BOARDERS


DAVID WOOD is mad about estate agent boards. In fact, he loves them so much he has 400 of them on his 80x40ft plot.


The 49-year-old scrap merchant from York uses them as borders for his raised beds.


"You can't beat them," he says. "They make gardening a great deal easier. When it rains, you don't get caked up in muck."


He gets the boards from his estate agent mate, and a friend in the carpet trade indulges his other passion - the feel of a good shag pile between his toes. Axminster paths stop the weeds growing, he says.


PIGEONS DROP A HINTBILLY McCleod has a secret weapon that makes him the envy of Newcastle's growers.


Other plot holders can't understand how he grows chilli peppers the size of bananas and cucumbers that are round and yellow.


The retired oil rig engineer feeds his plants pigeon muck. He spreads buckets of the stuff on his beds every year.


"They're well-fed racing pigeons, so there's a lot of good compost in it," he says. With his Thai wife Noi and friend Joe Colquohoun, the 57-year-old has transformed his 40ft by 80ft plot. "The stuff we grow is amazing," he says.


FINE VINTAGE TAKEN AS RED


PETER Springall produces around 300 bottles of red wine from his allotment every year.


The retired electrical engineer has been growing grapes since 1982 and has more than 20 varieties.


"The wine gets better and better every year," says Peter, 80. "It is popular with my friends.


"The vines produce 600lbs of fruit every year, which I press and bottle on the allotment in the autumn. My best grape is Black Pearl, which gives me a good dry red wine."


He also keeps half a million bees on his 100x10ft plot in Sydenham, South London, which he calls the Kent House Vineyard. His 10 beehives produce 50 pots of award-winning honey a year.


The pensioner, who has never married, spends most of his time on his allotment, where he has a fridge, gas cooker and toilet in his shed.


IT'S WHERE I GET MY BRIGHT IDEAS


BRYAN Taylor spends hours on his allotment inventing wacky contraptions. His substantial plot in Ipswich is littered with the fruits of his labour.


The retired BT engineer is most proud of the solar-powered gate to his chicken coop, which lets his hens out at daybreak and shuts them in at dusk.


"It's a bit Wallace and Gromit, but it really works well," he said. "It's almost as good as my self-winding hose pipe that slowly winds up while watering the garden. That's also solar powered."


Bryan, 67, has fitted his cold frames with heat sensors that open the glass lids when the temperature gets too hot or cold.


He has had his plot for 36 years and keeps a dozen hens among 15 fruit trees of cherry, apple and plum.


"My grandfather gardened here. Allotments are in my blood," says Brian who spends four hours a day on his allotment.


"My best ideas come to me when I'm digging the garden," he said. "It keeps me young."


PALACE SOOT PUT ME ON TOBACCO ROAD


CHRIS Guerney grows enough tobacco on his 90ft x 30ft plot to make thousands of cigarettes a year.


The 63-year-old upholsterer from Croydon, South London, feeds his plants on soot from Kensington Palace. His mate is a chimney sweep who gives him sackloads of the stuff.


"Soot is a brilliant food for tobacco, which needs tonnes of saltpetre," he says. "I produce 100 kilos of tobacco a year. At £185 a kilo retail, that is a massive saving for me."


Chris, who smokes 40 a day, started growing tobacco in 1996. He drained his indoor pool to use as a greenhouse for seeding 2,000 plants. "I got 200,000 smokes from that crop," he says.

[wardy]

Is this going to be on the telly?  Sounds like a good watch if so  :)

[Svea]

sounds like a lot of misinformation here - from a newspaper article i take it?

Other plot holders can't understand how he grows chilli peppers the size of bananas and cucumbers that are round and yellow.

i would suggest it has something to do with the variety?? ;) ;D

btw, i thought growing tobacco was illegal - because of the tax issue...?!

[return of the mac]

Im surprised hes still alive smoking all those fags :o . Ilike the bbq idea though- wouldnt mind having one at my site.

[wardy]

The Italians on the plots always grew tobacco - they probably still do  :)

We have barbies on our plots.  We had one at our open day and it was brilliant.  Lots of lovely salads to go with the lamb and mint burgers  :)

[Robert_Brenchley]

If that guy's only getting 50 jars of honey a year off ten hives he's not doing much good! Even in a mediocre year you can average 30lb/hive, as long as you're not splitting them.

[moonbells]

Crumbs!

Why do these articles always go for the wacky ideas? Why doesn't someone just show an ordinary lottie? One that folk can aspire to like we keep seeing on A4A?

Anyway, to join in the BBQ comments, I had been meaning to buy a £20 mini kettle (Sienna) from Homebase for weeks ever since I saw it in Amateur Gardening's summer feature on them. Went earlier today, finally, and they're now £15.  Came with legs that fold up for transport and a strong carrying handle that locks over the lid too.  And in pink, blue or black but I was a bit miffed as they'd run out of blue and no WAY was I getting pink!!!!

I think that it will wander up to the lottie at some stage! I've already started toting up the Hi-Gear butane gas stove, a tiny whistle kettle and a flask of milk for mugs of fresh tea!!!

moonbells

[wardy]

What's that then Moonbells?  I googled but couldn't find any info on the mini kettle and I'd like to be able to mash.  My home made cooker is inoperable at weekends as we can't light a fire as the neighbouring bungalow does not like it.  I agree and so have gone back to flask but would like to brew up fresh  :)

[Robert_Brenchley]

I'd be lost without my kettle. No smoke that anyone would notice unless I'm deliberately smoking food, quite controllable, and I can roast a chicken with no problems. You can't do that on a conventional barbie.

[jennym]

btw, i thought growing tobacco was illegal - because of the tax issue...?!

You can grow tobacco legally, but only for your own use. Musn't try to sell it.

[Svea]

interesting, jenny. i would have thought even so it's illegal as 'your personal use' also avoids the tax then? i guess though it must be the same as home made wines/spirits...:)

[moonbells]

What's that then Moonbells?  I googled but couldn't find any info on the mini kettle and I'd like to be able to mash.  My home made cooker is inoperable at weekends as we can't light a fire as the neighbouring bungalow does not like it.  I agree and so have gone back to flask but would like to brew up fresh  :)

oops  :-\ too many uses of kettle!

The Sienna kettle is a barbie with a lid

The little tiny whistling one I got for making tea is about 6" across and I got it from the local hardware store for £6.99 and does a couple of mugs a pop. 

I'm sure there must be one on the market in town, surely? Thursday's 2nd hand market if not the normal ones!

Failing that,  Johnson's up Chatsworth Road or Wisebuys in Staveley (near Morrisons) - the latter's very good for gardening stuff too!

I also found what looks like the same as I've got in Argos - their aluminium kettle
http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=3801&productId=156529&clickfrom=name
though mine was not black and was a quid cheaper.

moonbells

[amphibian]

btw, i thought growing tobacco was illegal - because of the tax issue...?!

You can grow tobacco legally, but only for your own use. Musn't try to sell it.

Since 2001 duty has been payable on home produced tobacco, but as of yet HMCE have not devised a method for the collection of these duties. People seem to think that the change in the law makes it illegal to grow your own tobacco, this isn't the case. Likewise people think it is illegal to produce your own cooking oil diesels, when as long as you pay the duty it is legal.

Paying the duty on home grown tobacco will probably make growing it rather pointless, though I suspect most people will lie about how much they have used. If indeed HMCE ever get around to sorting-out a mechanism for duties collection.

[wardy]

I've got a Le Creuset kettle.  Very posh  ;D  My old man boiled it dry for so long the black enamel fell off so only fit for lotty now  :(

I think I'm going to treat meself to one of those little camping gas stoves, little flat thing with one or two rings and you put a gas cartridges in. 

I've still got my brick built "cooker" but can only use it during the week due to neighbourly difficulties  :)

I love Johnson's hardware shop in town - it's like stepping back in time and they sell great stuff.  Never seen so many different kinds of shovels  ;D

[BAGGY]

I found a shop in Colchester once that was a revelation.  It has been known as Arkwrights to our gang since.

[wardy]

Lovely aren;t they.  A whole new world to supermarkets which give me severe stress.  You can feel your stress levels rise as soon as you walk in  :o

The problem with me and the OH though we go into the old fashioned hardware shop for a lock for the shed and come away with a whole load of stuff we didn't need but thought it might come in handy.  Small coal shovel.  Do I have any coal?  Do I eck!

I want an old fashioned garden line so think I'll have to make a return visit  :)

[BAGGY]

My mum had one of them.  I used to throw a blanket over it at half mast and weight it down with bricks and it became a summer camp for me and my teddied to move into.  Jam sarnies tasted so much better under there.  Happy days

[moonbells]

Heh. Mum had a wooden clothes horse which got propped up by the gate where there was a nice right angle - covered with sheets and used as a den.

Those were the days... no stress, no worries, still at primary school... daisy chains in the holidays...

Oh well now I've me lottie and a real shed :)

moonbells

[wardy]

You should have kept that clothes horse.  You can't get them for love nor money these days  :)

[moonbells]

She might still have it... must ask!

(Though Mum's a thrower and Dad's a hoarder so it's evens I guess as to whether it's lurking in the pantry still)

moonbells (a hoarder - trouble is I married one as well!)