Earthed and the popularity of Allotments

A few months ago I discovered the charity earthed and their wonderful education platform that offers a wide variety of nature based courses at beginner and advanced skill levels. Their focus is on supporting individuals who want to make changes in their own communities with topics such as activism, traditional knowledge and food sovereignty. I'm currently learning about No Dig Growing and looking at how I can implement those principles into vegetable growing.

A few of my friends have signed up for allotments to increase the variety of vegetables they grow and to boost their self sufficiency. About 15 years ago I briefly took on a local allotment, giving it up after a couple of months due to time commitments. The history of allotments in the UK goes back to Anglo Saxon times with spaces available for people to grow their own fruit and vegetables. Modern allotments continue to be measured with the Anglo Saxon rod system of ten rods which is roughly equal to 250 square meters.

Todays allotments stem from the 1845 General Enclosure Act and later the Small Holdings and Allotments Act of 1907/08, which gave councils the responsibility of providing allotments on demand to residents of the parish. During the First and Second World Wars people were encouraged to grow their own food with popular slogans such as Dig for Victory. This campaign to reduce food shortages produced 1.3 million tonnes of food from 1.5 million allotments during the Second World War.

The popularity of allotments has had a resurgence since the 1990's, with a focus not only on self sufficiency, but also growing food that is healthy and considers the environment. It also has the added bonus of being good for our mental health and wellbeing. The downside of this popularity is the lengthy waiting lists in some areas for allotments. 

The artist, historian and activist JC Niala has been researching and campaigning for more allotments in partnership with Greenpeace over the last few years. She discovered there were nearly 175,000 people across Britain on waiting list for allotments and set about informing communities of their rights to request land under the Allotments Act. You can find out more at The Truth About Britain's Allotment Waiting List.

If this has prompted you to think about an allotment take a look at RHS Guide to getting started and reach out to your council to join the waiting list.