Reap the rewards by putting your name down for an allotment plot - Yorkshire Post Letters

It is good in one sense that there is a demand for allotments, but sad that Sheffield City Council cannot accommodate everyone on the waiting list, The Yorkshire Post, February 4, 2023.

Since the pandemic in 2019, the demand for allotments has been very strong when 4,000 names were on the waiting list.

Growing your own fruit and vegetables is very rewarding and you will not get better tasting vegetables. Especially compared to those bought in supermarkets, when after picking, they have been transported to distribution warehouses, before being transported again to shops for purchase by customers and all the time the natural flavours are being lost.

The only exception to this is Birdseye peas, when the peas are cut by vine harvesters and the Contractor Pea lorries are transporting peas 24/7, across East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire to the factory when the pea pods are 'shelled, washed and frozen within hours of harvesting.

Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to provide allotments to rent to local residents.

It is good to read that in Sheffield the provision of 3,200 allotments is self financing as the rent covers staff, the cost of water and path repairs.

The vast majority who have an allotment enjoy working the soil, spreading manure in winter, and cultivating the land, planting young plants in spring and harvesting tasty crops in summer and autumn.

Most allotment sites become communities of like minded gardeners who swap tips on how to grow healthy vegetables over a refreshing mug of Yorkshire Tea or something a bit stronger.

The only exception is the leek growers, mainly based in the North East of England and Wales, who grow leeks for exhibition at horticultural shows and will keep their successful growing techniques close to their chest.

Gardeners say it is a waste of time growing tomatoes as they are so cheap in supermarkets, but the difference in the flavoursome taste between what a gardener grows and those bought are poles apart.

With the high heating costs at the moment, many cucumber growers in East Yorkshire and Essex are either missing the first crop, so the expensive tasteless ones from the Netherlands are there to be bought, or sadly going out of business after growing cucumbers for generations.

My tip is buy a packet of cucumber seeds for 99p, sow in a pot or plant in a large size vegetable growing bag or very large pot and water.

The way Sheffield council is attempting to reduce the waiting list is by renting half plots.

Many older allotment holders may find a full plot is too much to cultivate and are willing to give up half the plot.This is great for someone who is new to vegetable growing as the plot has been worked and fertilised and they can get the best advice for growing fruit and vegetables from a gardener who has grown them for years, rather than trial and error by reading gardening books, which to some may be disheartening.

Even the professional gardeners, like Yorkshire grown Alan Titchmarsh sometimes get it wrong, but the beauty of gardening is that you are always learning.