Has the perception of allotments changed in the last few weeks?

There are many different perspectives of allotments, allotment folk and the value they provided to the community. Views will vary greatly, and some from outside may be far adrift from reality. The views of the value allotments give their plot holders will also differ by demographic and ethnic mix. But whatever the view held we must respect perception often trumps all.

Some views may be tainted by the length of waiting lists and in today’s instant gratification times, view allotments as elitist and plots unobtainable. Others may look through the gates and take the view that they often resemble a ramshackle shanty town. Others will look with envy at the fresh vegetables and jealously yearn for the good life. The perception will obviously vary significantly between rural and urban, suburban and inner-city sites. Some even see them as a sort of day care centre for the retired.

Over the years allotments have gone in and out of fashion. Often in times of hardship they attract attention, whilst in times of plenty and affluence they may lose that attraction.

As a result of the current Covid virus has perception of allotments changed?

One thing is very clear is that the profile of allotments and the benefits they offer has been raised. It may be increased column inches in the weekend broadsheets, or even the five-minute sound bite on TV but six months ago there would have been none.

Perhaps two things have helped to raise the profile. The first was the supermarket queues and the awakening that we as a society had become too dependent on the one stop shop, the perfect all year-round fresh food that knows no seasonality. When you start to add up the air miles and extended supply chains and things done to preserve freshness maybe you realise that there is fresh and there is fresh. The second profile raiser was the fact that allotments remained open all hours and even government ministers classed them as exercise. Later they were lauded as providing both mental well-being as well as physical exercise.

In areas of dense housing and where the shift from houses to flats often in the sky prevails, the loss of growing space or even meaningful open space is acute. Here in London’s Docklands we have the highest density of residential housing in Western Europe and everything new reaches into the sky in little boxes piled on top of each other. There is some open space but that is often managed by the estate to provide the lowest maintenance option and community gardening is rarely encouraged or provided.

It is ironic that allotments as we know them today are only some 100 to 150 years old. They were developed to provide, along with parks and libraries, a release from the industrial sprawl and to give householders a piece of land to grow on. Today the industrial sprawl has been replaced by concrete, glass and commercial and residential sprawl and yet we have less space than we did a 100 years ago or even 50 years ago. Some would suggest that we now have longer waiting lists and latent demand than at any time in the history of allotments.

I was once told by a Mayor of a borough that his colleagues were the problem and that they viewed allotments ‘as the lowest of the low.’ Well if there was ever a reason to change perception that was it.  Today even the hardest councils have had to keep allotments open and respect the benefits they give. Folk who thought gardening was something their parents and grandparents did have started to discover its many benefits and the closure of garden centres has in fact help raise awareness even further.

But perception must be changed and allotments have to continue to help that change happen. Allotments are integral to the community. They are environmental standard bearers, centres of both mental and physical well-being, educational stimulants, ethnic and social melting pots.

I often state to doubting eyes that only 28% of our plot holders are retired, only a minority are English origin and so on. These are small facts, but perception changes.

We do not judge the longest bean, the fattest leek, the straightest carrot. In fact, we celebrate the community outreach program we have and embrace environmental initiatives and projects.

Finally, I strongly believe that allotments do not stop at the fence and these physical barriers do not stop the allotments fully integrating into the community in many ways. Children may learn some basic gardening at school but where do we expect them to continue this after leaving school? Where do the disabled or long term sick go who are unable to physically manage a garden? How do we ensure social housing also has social gardening?

The city planners need to think holistically about the city-scapes they are responsible for developing and ensure that the various green and welfare needs highlighted by the current situation are not a lost opportunity. We can change not just perceptions but reality.   

Name that Vegetable

All allotment sites are worked by an increasingly diverse cultural and ethnic group of plot holders. They bring with them their own growing methods and often their own plants. Some plants are remarkably like those we are used to seeing, some of which are very exotic, some we may regard as weeds. But often they are an introduction into something very new and different. I think back to the knobbly yellow courgette I was introduced to growing last year and that stayed firm when cooked and had a nutty almond taste.

We share, embrace the new and all learn from each other. We are long past the longest carrot, straightest bean and now it is about different varieties of fruit and vegetables some of which many of us may have only seen on our travels.

Mainstream TV continues to present us with the classic English varieties and if you are very lucky a smidgen of something new. This more establishment perspective is often accompanied by a quick introduction into the plant’s genealogy via their Latin name. If you are lucky enough to know Latin great, but if not in true BBC style, they give you five seconds to write it down by giving you it as a subtext at the bottom of the screen. Now who goes into their local garden centre or B&Q and expects them to understand Latin? This strange reverence to the plant’s genealogy appears to change when they refer to vegetables. Here the common name is often the prevalent one used. Some may suggest that this is somewhat down to the BBC RHS culture and expecting us all to know our veg, but to look for higher meaning when talking about our flowers.

I am dyslexic, so Latin goes in one ear and frankly comes out the other and means nothing to me. I rely on the common names and glossy pictures on the seed packets and seed catalogues. I must also admit today I only look at the fruit and vegetable pages as I now only have an allotment and what flowers I do grow have to have purpose. I don’t think drifts of Lunaria annua, or Hesperis matronalis or even Matthiola incana  (old fashioned stocks, sweet rocket and Honesty) have a place unless they are complementary to the vegetables, can be cut, or serve as a pest deterrent around the vegetables.

Today’s ethnic diversity of plot holders will vary from site to site, borough to borough, town and city and within a county. On our site we have Chinese, Bangladesh, Turkish, Vietnamese, German, Russian, Polish, Spanish to name a few and even an American. So, finding a common language to describe the simplest of vegetables can be a challenge but naming something you are unfamiliar with is even more of a challenge. We discovered recently that a plant we class as poisonous is regarded as perfectly harmless and when prepared correctly is eaten by one group.

An interesting issue relates to cross-border commerce and the international designations or codes given to be machine read and language independent. There are government pages which list this and it’s refreshing they reference them by their common name, listing alternative common names their Latin name and the heading code which can have many subheading extensions. They also distinguish between fresh and frozen, roots and tubers, families such as legumes and herbs and spices. Fancy referring to your tomatoes 0702.

The song says, ‘I say tomato, you say tomato.’ If we ignore Esperanto which I came across in this research and even all the various names in the different Indian languages. What are these European named vegetables?

1.       German: Kartoffel, French: pomme de terre, Spanish: patata, Italian: patata, Portuguese: batata, Dutch: aardappel, Polish: ziemniak, Latin: Solanum tubersum

2.       German: Lauch, French: poireau, Spanish: puerro, Italian: porro, Portuguese: alho-porro, Dutch: look, Polish: warzywo cebulowe, Latin: Allium ampeloprasum

3.       German: Tomate, French: tomate, Spanish: tomate, Italian: pomodoro, Portuguese: tomate, Dutch: tomaat, Polish: pomidor, Latin: Lycopersican esculentum

4.       German: Paprika, French: poivron, Spanish: pimiento, Italian: peperone, Dutch: paprika, Polish: strąk papryki, Latin: Capsicum annuum 

5.       German: Gurke, French: concombre, Spanish: pepino, Italian: cetriolo, Portuguese: pimento, Dutch: komkommer Polish: ogórek, Latin: Cucumis sativas

6.       German: Kürbis, French: citrouille, Spanish: calabaza común, Italian: zucca, Portuguese: alóbora, Dutch: pompoen, Polish: dynia, Latin: Cucurbita