Many allotment holders are now choosing to grow their vegetables in raised beds. This is quite a new phenomenon and has many advantages and disadvantages. Discussed below are a few points that need consideration.

Advantages

Raised beds are in essence low maintenance; they can be weeded quickly and easily. You also have clearly defined boundaries for your crops meaning forward planning and hence crop rotation can be much easier. If they are raised sufficiently, people who have difficulty bending can work the beds meaning no more bad backs.

Disadvantages

They can be quite free draining so may need to be watered more regularly. They also restrict the amount of area you can grow vegetables on your plot. This will of course mean that you will have less produce. This may however not be a bad thing if you have difficulty looking after your plot. You will have to provide some sort of paths between the beds which can of course cost money; otherwise the weeds may take hold.

These painful weeds can often be considered a nuisance amongst the lovely straight lines of vegetables at the allotment, however they can provide useful nutrients to other plants and yourself if used correctly!

For the plants - Nettles can produce a balanced, valuable fertiliser when utilised in liquid feed. If you gather the nettles in the spring, they have the peak mineral content. To produce the liquid feed, put the freshly picked nettles into a container and fill with water (2 gallons of water for every 2lbs of nettles). Cover the mixture and leave for a fortnight, stirring occasionally. After the 2 weeks, strain the nettle juice. Use one part of this smelly liquid with 10 parts water.

For you - Nettles contain iron, vitamins and natural histamine. They can make an excellent tonic to help improve circulation and detoxify your system. Use the young shoots as these are best for cooking.

Many may have tried growing garlic at the allotment, but wild garlic is to be found now, from March to June, in shady spots commonly across England and Wales. Easily identifiable by its distinct aroma, you are sure to know when you are about to stumble across this edible treat.

To maximise the use of this wild crop the young leaves can be utilised raw in salads (best to be picked whilst the plant is still flowering). These leaves tend to have an intense, garlic smell but are mild in flavour. Why not try as an alternative to chives? The pretty white flowers of the garlic are also edible, and are attractive in a salad.

The bulbs can also be eaten; dug up and enjoyed as a milder version of the shop bought garlic cloves. Remember to check before you eat any wild plant as it may not be what you think, and could even be poisonous.

Harrogate and District Allotments Federation is holding its Annual Allotment show on the 16th of August this year. The show will take place from 11.00am to 4.30pm and is held in the Sun Pavilion, Valley Gardens, Harrogate.

A local band provides music through the day and there are many stalls to visit selling allotment produce, supplies, cakes and refreshments. There are also many prizes to be won as well as the usual raffle and tombola.

The show gives an opportunity for allotment holders to show off their produce as well as promote allotments to the general public. It has now been running for many years and is always a favourite of the local community and visitors to the area.

The show always incorporates some sort of fund raising event or collection for local charities and in the last few years has raised £2,000 for Young Carer’s and £1,000 for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Harrogate Borough council have a waiting list for anyone who would like an allotment at their three sites at Claro Road and Pearl Street in Harrogate and Ferrensby Allotments at Knaresborough. An application can be filled in online, but the current waiting list may be up to 2 years.

The essence of owning an allotment is having available fresh home grown fruit and vegetables any time you want them. This however requires a little effort and you must be able to give up some spare time at the weekends or through the summer week nights to do some weeding or hoeing. This can only take a few minutes but keeping on top of things means that when you do visit your plot you won’t have an overbearing task ahead of you.

Most people who own a plot pride themselves in the fact that most things they have or use at the plot have either been given to them or they have acquired them for very little money. After all there is no point growing loads of produce that is immensely more expensive than if you had bought it from the supermarket. Freebies can range from seeds given away by newspapers, old fence panels from home to make a dividing fence at the allotment or free promotional mugs given away by a company who want to get their name known.

You should always try to use whatever you get for free because keeping costs at a minimum will mean that any produce that you do grow will invariably be at a lower cost than you can buy.

Many people grow fruit and vegetables for their own or their families use. It does not really matter how this produce looks as long as it tastes ok (which is usually the case if you grow your own). However there are also some allotment holders who pride themselves in the perfect specimens that they produce for the local show or some for even national shows. If an event like this is taking place near your allotments or even at your allotments then it is always worth a visit.

There are usually prizes for many different types of displays and for the largest or most perfect produce. These usually range from the best overall display to the largest pumpkin for example. The winners are often given trophies and runners up some sort of rosette. After the event a few of the stall holders often give away their produce, or you can buy it for a nominal fee and you can always pick up cheap seeds or gardening equipment.

These types of fetes or fairs are usually a great day out for all the family and are often year on year events. The competitors usually have some sort of long standing rivalry meaning the awards tent is a great place to be to see jubilant celebrations and disappointed faces.

As people are increasingly interested in growing fruit and vegetables, the allotment waiting lists in the UK are ever growing. Landshare is an initiative, established across the UK to help make British land accessible to the potential growers and hence increase land productivity and
availability of crops.

How it all works:

Landowners and growers alike register online, posting details of what you can offer or what you need. The mail system helps match the requirements, aiding dialogue hopefully to result in well utilised land.

This is a fantastic opportunity for those who would like to get growing but are stuck on the dreaded allotment waiting list. Have a browse online, it might be the solution for you.

Now is the ideal time to make a start on preparing your bean trench. You will have probably decided on your site for your runner beans this summer already. So dig out a deep trench and fill the bottom of the trench with the compost from your compost bin. Kitchen waste, kept from over winter, is the perfect addition to the bottom of the trench. Cover the trench over with soil, ready for planting your seedlings.

Your seeds can either be planted directly into the soil, or planted under glass, and transferred once the risk of frost has reduced.

Runner beans don’t only produce a great supply of crops, most have beautiful flowers that make your allotment a cheerier place to be.

It is ideal to eat your produce straight from the allotment, but inevitably you will end up with excess at times. It can also be great to enjoy your favourite things throughout the year. In addition to experimenting with successional sowing at the allotment, spending time in the kitchen can help to alleviate the classic dilemma of “too much” followed by “too little” of your crops.

Freezing is a fantastic way to preserve your excess, whilst retaining the flavour and vitamins. Some crops can be frozen straight from the plot. Blackberries, bagged into individual portions, can be a useful addition to your freezer, providing a year round supply of ripe berries.

Most vegetables benefit from blanching prior to freezing. Blanching kills enzymes and bacteria and also helps to maintain the colour, flavour and texture of the vegetables. This technique can also help retain vitamin C content.

The technique is easy. For every 1lb of produce you will need 6 pints of boiling water. A couple of minutes would be sufficient for most vegetables. Remove the vegetables from the boiling water, and plunge into cool water, then ice water to cool immediately. Once cool remove from the water and dry and place in portion size freezer bags.

A gardening body has issued a threat of legal action on the basis that some councils are not fulfilling their legal duty to provide space for allotments.

In Wales, the ever increasing demand for allotments is not being met. Some local authorities apparently have waiting lists of over 1,000 wannabe allotment holders. The reason behind the lack of response appears to be a concern that the current popularity of holding an allotment may soon fade, leading to a waste of resources.

The secretary of the Wrexham Allotment Association, Andrea Evans, stated “About seven years ago you couldn’t give allotments away. Now people want to know where their food is coming from and a lot of people garden organically. Also the price of food is going up daily. So to grow your potatoes, your carrots and so on, helps the family. We’re now seeing much more families taking on allotments. Just before Christmas we cleared 70 off the waiting list. At the moment we’ve around 35 on the waiting list - which is fantastic.”

Despite this boom in allotmenting popularity, not all authorities are meeting their legal obligation to provide plots where there is demand. It appears to be due to a fear that taking on and preparing land for this purpose may lead to problems when the current trend for growing your own passes.