Having returned from holiday a week ago we find ourselves in
quarantine.
As we left Mallorca I looked down
at my neighbour’s vegetable patch. Juan is a retired construction company owner
and is always pottering around outside in his shorts spraying his plants,
picking his harvest, blowing leaves off his drive and even rotovating his plot.
His tomato and bean frames are bamboo he cuts down from the back of his garden
where these monsters can grow some 30 feet tall. It may not be the classic
English plot, but it certainly produces for his extended family. He also has a
very big Avacado tree laden with hanging fruit and a half lemon and half orange
tree at his gate entrance which is fun to watch fruit. Well it is the orange
and lemon valley of Mallorca so a half and half tree makes sense.
Fortunately, my volunteer plot ‘buddy’ off our waiting list
has been attending my plot, my neighbour’s who’s shielded and our Site
Manager’s plot and enjoys the watering and harvesting produce. On our return
there was a huge bundle of fresh pickings and an update on the plot. She also has
agreed to cover the isolation period. It’s great to be able to share the plot
this way with someone who is keen to volunteer and help. Now what would we have
done without her?
My plot ‘buddy’ personifies the people who don’t have the
opportunity today to grow at home. She may have windowsills and a very small
balcony, but that is hardly enough space. She will have to wait years on our
waiting list to get to top and it’s a shame folk like her can’t get that plot
of land they deserve. She even helps often volunteering at our plot at Canary
Wharf Crossrail station.
So as we wait to be let out it is time to reflect on those
without plots, on long waiting lists and desperate to grow. We have to do
better and whether its community gardens, garden lets, open space provision and
we must not ignore the demand or the benefits. It’s not about being a member of
a society, it’s about being a member of a community. It’s not about allotments
over there, community gardens over here, open space gardens in the middle, it’s
about gardening provision for young and old, fit and disabled, and maybe
allotment buddies are one option.
Today we are 250% over subscribed on our waiting list and it
isn’t getting better. Boroughs throw their hands in the air and say no more
land, ministers say housing comes first, there is a clear urban versus rural
divide and little is done for those unable to work a full plot or recovering
from injury or long term illness or mental health issues. It isn’t someone
else’s problem, it’s all our problem.
Juan in Mallorca has land, there is plenty of family land
there and in the mountains, but surely some would suggest it’s far too hot to
work it. The point is Juan is not overlooked by Europe’s densest residential
housing staked up in ever increasing skyscrapers. He lives in a close-knit
community which has its own ‘buddy’ system and yes they had a stricter lockdown
but they have land and can grow.
