A planning application has been submitted by The Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society to create 60 allotments on a site near St Lawrence.

Car parking, fences and sheds will all be required at the site, and hence make up part of the proposal. The chair of the society has indicated that there have been a large number of enquiries from people who are interested in growing their own vegetables but have limited space in which to do this.

The planned allotments, which are to be situated at the top of Mont Cochon, should be available to all those in the society.

Allotments often contain a hotchpotch of various storage solutions that have accumulated over many years. The humble garden shed is the most common storage device and these come in all shapes, sizes and colours. These sheds often give an allotment an unkempt feel and some sites may look uncared for, however these also give the allotment a sense of charm and individuality.

Because the storage on your allotment will need to last for many years a standard wooden shed may not provide the longevity of service you are looking for, and they need repairs and regular maintenance. Another solution is to buy a steel or prefabricated concrete sheds. These will last for years and require very little maintenance. Also they are somewhat more secure than the wooden variety.

One problem with owning an allotment is the fact you may be away from the site for a number of days or even weeks. This could mean that your expensive tools are vulnerable to theft. Most allotment sheds have their windows covered with some type of removable panel. This can be removed when you are at the site to allow natural light into your shed, but when you are not there, no one will be able to see into your shed.

One of your regular allotment tasks should be looking after your allotment tools. Having good quality allotment tools is essential, and looking after them properly and storing them in a suitable location will mean that they last for years.

One thing that we all use when cooking are herbs. These usually come in dried packets that are kept in the store cupboard for weeks or even months before we use them. If you regularly taste fresh herbs you will realise that they are a world away from the supermarket bought dried variety.

Growing your own herbs is really easy and everyone should have a selection at home on the windowsill or in pots or containers just outside the back door.

Many herbs can be grown from seed very easily and can readily be used in the kitchen. Useful herbs that should always be kept at hand are Parsley, Rosemary, Basil, Coriander, Oregano, Bay and Mint. There are of course a huge variety of herbs, so when you find a recipe you like don’t buy dried herbs, buy seeds or seedlings and grow the plant yourself. That way you will be able to use the herb many more times, and it will always be fresh.

Now that the weather has finally started to break and we are enjoying some sunny days, we can start planting our maincrop onions for the year ahead.

The best way for the novice to grow onions is to use onion sets, these are like miniature onions that can grow more quickly than from seed, they are more reliable and I find that the onions store better later in the year when I use sets.

The week before you plant the onions you should prepare the bed with a general organic fertiliser, I use chicken pellets that can be bought from any garden centre. The soil should have warmed slightly from the little sun it has had in March and early April, so make a drill about 1 inch deep and sow the sets with the rounded end down, the tip of the set should just be showing through the soil surface when you backfill. The space between the sets should be about 5 inches apart depending on the type of onion you plant.

If any onions grow too quickly they will produce seed heads, this is known as bolting, cut off the stalk and the onion will continue to develop, sometime I find that these onions need to be eaten first as they go rotten more quickly than ones that have not bolted. I also use organic fertiliser because this releases nutrients more slowly so stops bolting and is much better for the environment than chemical ones.

You will know when your onions are ready because the stalks will begin to bend over and will appear flaccid and more yellow in colour. The best way to pick onions is to lift them onto the surface of the soil and leave for a few days. This will break the roots from the plant. Onions need to be dried out and the best way to do this is to leave them outside in a location where the air can get to all parts of the onion. It is important however not to let the onions get too wet or too hot as this will damage them.

When they have dried out you can store then in a cool dark place for a number of months, you should check occasionally for rot at their bases as this can spread to other onions if they are stored together.

The oldest allotments in England celebrated their bicentenary last week. The six acre site at Great Somerford became the site of the first allotments after Rev Steven Demainbray appealed to King George the Third to spare some land for the poor people in the parish. There are still fifty working allotments at the site and traditions from long ago are still enforced, contracts are renewed every Easter Tuesday after each owner’s site has been inspected.

The allotments are still free to locals, as they have been since 1809 but locals produce a much wider variety of crops than the original oats, wheat and roots for feeding livestock. Allotments have come a long way since their earliest forms, but they still provide a great healthy pastime to the many people who still want to grow their own fruit and vegetables.

Most people tend their allotment to get the benefit of having fresh vegetables or fruit whenever they want them. Imagine the surprise when Andy Jarrett from Wallington found a fossil that is believed to be 80 million years old whilst digging his patch. The fossil is of an Inoceramus which lived at the bottom of the ocean in the Cretaceous period around 80 million years ago. The find has been certified by the Natural History Museum who stated:

“Inoceramids are an important group of bivalves. The actual specimen appears to be Inoceramus balticus which dates to about 80 million years ago. It lived at the bottom of a deep sea that covered much of Northern Europe”.

Andy loves working on his plot and will be looking out for any other fantastic things that might just turn up when he is tending his vegetables.

The first rhubarb shoots will just be appearing on your allotment at the beginning of March and you can still force the stalks to encourage more early growth. Rhubarb that was forced last year should not be forced again this year so it is a good idea to have two crowns at different positions on your allotment so you can force them in alternate years.

Using a large forcing pot or an upturned dustbin, cover the crown completely to stop any light from getting to the stalks. If you want to quicken the process you can insulate the outside of the bin with straw to keep the heat in and the cold out.

The rhubarb can be picked about 4-6 weeks after forcing when the shoots will be long, slim and lighter in colour than regular rhubarb shoots.

Rhubarb can usually be forced depending on the climate, anywhere between December and early March.

Many more people who live in towns are looking to increase the amount of green space that they own or have access to by choosing to have an allotment. Allotments are plots of land that people from local communities can rent for a nominal fee to grow plants and vegetables.

There are some rules about what you can and can’t do on allotments, for example some sites allow livestock like chickens, whereas some sites don’t even allow you to plant trees.

Allotments are a great way to produce your own vegetables, often these are a much higher quality than you would find in a supermarket, and when grown organically are great for the environment too.

If you have no access to a car or transport to get into the country then an allotment can offer a form of rest, relaxation and downtime from the stresses of everyday life. They are a great way to teach children about where our food comes from, and are beneficial to their development because of all the new and exciting things that they can learn.

March is the time to start sowing. Hopefully by now you will have had time to consider what you want to grow, and you may well have already ordered your seeds. If not, it’s not too late, there is still time. Get planning, consider what you enjoy to eat - after all that is main aim, to enjoy your own produce.

As long as the soil is warm enough, seeds which can be planted outside this month include: Broad beans, Brussels sprouts, Carrots, Leeks, Lettuces, Onions and Shallots, Peas, Parsnips and Spinach.

Now is also a good time to improve the organic matter content of the soil, so get digging in the manure!

Now that the allotmenting season is getting started thoughts start to turn to sowing your seeds. Whilst all seeds vary in size and shape, there are a few hints which are useful for all sowing:

1 Make sure the bed is cleared of debris and weeds.
2 Rake the soil, breaking down lumps of soil.
3 Continue to rake until the soil is a fine till.
4 Create a drill (a shallow trough) in which to sow the seeds.
5 Read the packet instructions for information about distances between rows and depth of drills.
6 Seeds should be sprinkled lightly along the drill (not in clumps).
7 Drills can then be covered over with fine soil.
8 Remember to water well.