With local governments reluctant to release any land for new allotment sites, the 100000 people in the UK who are currently on waiting lists may finally get a chance at growing their own veg.

The National Trust in collaboration with Landshare, who match land to prospective growers, has announced the release of land for up to 1000 allotments on some of its properties and country estates.

Landshare was the brain child of TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall who has achieved notoriety for his “Chicken Out” campaign and the famous “River Cottage” TV programme. He has recently been advocating for more people to grow their own veg and has been putting pressure on local and national government to help make more land available.

The National Trust is releasing land at 40 different locations that will be available from around 2012 and will feature small plots and large community areas. The scheme has the backing of celebrities and the general public alike.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall stated:

“I’m completely thrilled with this fantastic pledge from the National Trust to offer 1,000 growing spaces to Landshare. This pledge alone has the potential to make a difference to many thousands of people – not just those who grow, but those with whom they share their wonderful produce. These kinds of initiatives offer immeasurable benefits to communities across a whole host of areas – from good health, to helping minimise our impact on the environment, to simply bringing people together”

Native Americans used to practice companion planting called the “three sisters”. The Iroquois women used this technique to grow their 3 most important crops: Beans, squash and maize.

They produced mounds of soil a stride apart. On the top of each mound several maize seeds were planted, and then 2 weeks later a bean seed was added. After the maize and beans had germinated a squash seed was planted at the base of the mound.

As the maize grew, the bean would use it for support (whilst adding nitrogen into the soil for the maize and squash), and to provide shade for the squash to spread across the ground (suppressing the weeds).

All 3 crops grew together benefiting from their friendly relationship and producing good crops of excellent quality.

Like just about everywhere else in the country allotments in Edinburgh are extremely difficult to find. The Scottish Allotment Society has recently tried to make more land available for residents due to the dire shortage in the capital.

One site next to a railway has in the past been used for allotments. Unfortunately the land owners, Network Rail have insisted on charging an inordinate amount of money for the annual rent. The sum mentioned is in the region of £250 per plot which is nearly 10 times the average rent an allotment holder pays in Edinburgh.

The current waiting list for an allotment in Edinburgh is seven years, and less than 100 people get a plot each year. Even though the council has said that it will happily manage the plots, they will unfortunately have to pass on the rent imposed by network rail.

A comment from network rail has stated

“Network Rail is a commercial organisation. We have a duty to maximize our assets and invest any money made back into our railways”.

With the push to eat more healthily and to stay fit, some may say that the view of Network Rail is shortsighted because of the positive publicity they may get for the promotion of these allotments and the benefit the local community will receive.

If you don’t have an allotment or any space in your garden to grow your own vegetables there is a viable option.

Certain types of vegetables can be grown extremely effectively in growbags or containers. It is however important to get as large a container as possible with lots of drain holes. The container should be preferably placed in a spot that is within easy reach that enjoys sunny periods throughout the day but is not in direct sunlight or shade.

If you only have a sunny spot, there are however certain types of specific plant that can be grown, like chillies, peppers or tomatoes (which can be grown really successfully in a growbag).

In a sunny/shady spot you can grow all types of veg like, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, onions, beetroot and garlic. You do however need to take into consideration the root formation of the type of veg you grow, because some veg need more room for their root systems than others.

Gardeners are known for their idiosyncrasies regarding the tools that they use. Whether it is the hoe that their grandfather gave them or a new gadget for turning the soil, every person has their own likes and dislikes.

As the growing season starts in earnest it is a good time to reevaluate the tools that you own, repair any broken items or search the garden centres or the internet for new shiny items will bolster your current collection. Any items that have become blunt can be sharpened with a metal file. Items that have rusted can be cleaned with a wire brush and then wire wool to achieve a polished finish. Knives, cutters or secateurs can be sharpened using a sharpening stone available from any DIY store. Raw wooden handles can be treated with linseed oil to protect their surface and give them a nice finish.

After the tools are clean and sharpened it is a good idea to give them a rub over with any general purpose oil, this will protect them from further rust during the coming season.

There are many good sharpening tools available to make these jobs easier for you; discounts can usually be had in stores or various internet sites with the help of promotional codes or vouchers. It is always handy to keep your sharpening equipment close at hand throughout the gardening season; this will let you touch up any blunt items to make your gardening experience easier and more enjoyable.

Traditionally, vegetables were grown in rows and blocks, however with the development of mechanical farming techniques, it was easier to tend crops which were grown in long rows. More recently with the increasing trend to grow vegetables at home, or on the allotment, raised beds have become a popular alternative.

Raised beds are usually 3 or 4 feet in width, allowing easy access to the middle, and can be any length. The soil levels in these beds are usually a few inches above the surrounding ground.

Advantages of Raised Beds:

• Permanent paths can be established
• Soils drains freely
• Soil warms up quickly
• Beds provide good growing depth
• Defined areas are less daunting
• Rotation of vegetables is easier
• Beds can be made to fit all spaces

Disadvantages of Raised Beds:

• Time to build
• Expense to build
• Dry out quickly in summer
• Not easy to relocate

A good soil for growing vegetables should be moist and full of nutrients. The soil at many allotments may have been used to grow crops for years, and when you first get your plot, spending some time to improve the soil quality will help greatly. Adding organic matter is the best way to improve the nutrient level, and also the consistency of the soil.

Digging in well rotted horse manure is one great idea. Try contacting local riding centres. They are often happy for you to take their waste away for free, some can even deliver.

In addition, pellets of chicken manure can dramatically improve nutrient levels, but make sure you follow the instructions! This can be used sparingly but have dramatic effects.

Green manure is another alternative for improving soil quality. This can be sown directly onto the allotment, and left to grow. Once fully grown, the plants can be then dug into the soil and left to rot, where they will re-introduce nutrients to the soil.

Whichever method you use, any attempt to improve the soil at your allotment will directly benefit the produce you grown in the soil. People often refer to feeding plants but if you feed the soil, the plants will look after themselves.

Rhubarb is back in fashion! Once a food staple, rhubarb became less fashionable during the late 70s and 80s due to the fad of pre-packed more exotic produce. This has all changed with the new culture of eating good quality ‘homely’ food that has gripped the nation and the positive press that rhubarb has received due to its health benefits.

A perennial vegetable, rhubarb is essential in every person’s allotment garden. Planting from seed can take a huge amount of time and effort to create a plant of adequate size and quality. So it is always advisable to buy established crowns or if you are lucky someone may split an established rhubarb plant for you. Always make sure that the root piece has one large crown bud so the rhubarb can establish itself mush more quickly.

Crowns should be planted in the spring about 5cm below the surface, you can use lots of organic matter on the crown, even creating a mound above the surface due to the plants requirement for lots of organic matter. Doing a pH test on the area where the rhubarb is to be planted is a good idea due to its natural tendency to like acid soils (pH 6-7).

Young plants should not be harvested frequently and not at all in the first year of planting. It is important to remember that only the stalks must be eaten, the leaves contain dangerous levels of oxalic acid which can cause severe illness.

Rhubarb can be pulled (not cut) from around April time in the UK unless it is forced.

One of the great things about growing your own fruit and vegetables on an allotment is being able to control the conditions in which they are grown. The cost of organic vegetables at the supermarket is greatly above that of the other produce, so what better way to beat the recession than by growing your own organic fruit and vegetables!

Organic growth of vegetables requires excluding or strictly limiting the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, additives and genetically modified organisms. Instead techniques such as green manure, crop rotation, composting and biological pest control are used to maintain soil productivity and control pests and disease. The food industry that produces organic products is heavily regulated, and very distinct from private gardening.

“An organic farm, properly speaking, is not one that uses certain methods and substances and avoids others; it is a farm whose structure is formed in imitation of the structure of a natural system that has the integrity, the independence and the benign dependence of an organism”

says Wendell Berry in his book ‘The Gift of Good Land’. Organically grown produce is generally believed to be healthier and organically grown fruit and vegetables are believed to contain up to 40% more antioxidants that standard produce.

With more and more people interested in growing their own vegetables and fruit, the demand for allotments has never been so high. With the advent of trendy green television programmes that extol the virtues of “growing your own” more people have contacted their local authority about the availability and ownership of an allotment.

One such place where this can be seen is Cardiff, where 800 people are currently on the waiting list for an allotment on one of the city’s 27 sites. The Vale of Glamorgan has also seen such problems with 290 residents on a three year waiting list before they may get the chance to rent a plot.

Councils are supposed to provide enough land for people to want to start an allotment but this current trend of wanting to ‘eat green’ shows that they are evidently not doing enough for their tax payers.

Terry Walton, BBC Radio 2’s allotment expert has stated that more young people now have, or want an allotment because they are fed up with increasing supermarket prices and want to eat healthy organic produce.