What a lotta fun growing your own fruit and veg

Having an allotment and growing your own fruit and vegetables is the latest trend to sweep the nation. Ahead of National Allotments Week next week, Judith Cole from the Belfast Telegraph talks to green fingered devotees.

‘It’s a very peaceful environment’Tracy Mearns (33), a project co-ordinator with Mencap, lives in Carrickfergus with partner Gerard McAteer. She says:

I got my allotment in June and have been working on it for about six to eight weeks. What I enjoy most about gardening is pottering about after a day’s work — it’s a great way to unwind and the banter between everyone at the allotments is great.

I heard from a friend that allotments were being made available and I was so excited and applied immediately. I have a ‘half plot’, 20ft by 40ft, which only costs £35 per year — it’s for nothing and it’s so enjoyable.

It’s about five minutes’ drive away from my house, so it’s very handy. The time I spend in it varies, usually depending on the weather, but often it could be a couple of hours an evening. On Sunday I was there for six hours and Saturday none because I realised I’d been neglecting my own garden at home.

So much work is needed to get your allotment going, and Gerard helped with a lot of the manual labour, taking the top layer off the ground and preparing it. My dad has helped me a lot too.

When you get your plot it’s just a section of grass and it’s quite daunting. People around you have had theirs since April and have got them looking lush and full of plants and vegetables, and that makes you determined to get going.

In my garden at home I keep flowers, and the allotment is mainly for vegetables. I have sunflowers to add some colour and prettiness, as well as lettuce, pak choi, sweet corn, radish, spinach, courgettes, pumpkins and runner beans. I hope to plant carrots and leeks too.

It’s a very peaceful, calming environment. There is a real community feel as everyone chats to each other and helps each other out. There’s great banter, and sometimes you realise you’ve been out there for a while and haven’t done much work because you’ve been talking to the others.

There is such a mix of people — young families, young couples, single guys, single girls, children and older people, which makes it all the more interesting.

The pleasure will be growing my own vegetables, eating them and knowing they’re organic.

Friends who I’d normally meet for coffee I now suggest that they come down to the plot. For my birthday they bought me a two seater bench, so people can come sit, and when I get my shed I’ll have a stove for making tea.

My interest in gardening started when I got my own house and wanted a garden. I hadn’t grown vegetables before but you learn a lot from the others around you. Lettuce, radishes and beans should be coming through in the next few weeks. One setback was when I planted sweet corn and birds took it out of the ground. It’s just part of the learning curve.

It’s fabulous — you sow your seeds, go over every night to water them and watch for their little heads to pop up. It’s also great physical exercise, and you do more than you realise. I would much rather have a purpose to my exercise rather than running on a treadmill and going nowhere.”

‘I lost two stones in three weeks’

Robert Johnston (69), a retired security worker at Belfast City Airport, and his wife Sheila live in Carrickfergus and they have five children. He says:

Having an allotment and growing your own fruit and vegetables gives you a great sense of achievement — and I also lost two stone within a few weeks from working so hard on it.

When my son Bill and I saw news of the Eden allotments being released we got plots adjacent to each other, about 40ft by 40ft each (a full plot costs £50 per year). The plot was just a square of grass to begin with but we got stuck in and and the council ploughed it over for us.

Some weeks later, a couple were starting out on their new plot and when they saw how far we had progressed with ours they thought we were professionals — but we’re anything but. I have about 40 items in my plot including fruit trees, herbs, cabbage, lettuce, parsley, leeks, celery, onions, broccoli and cauliflower.

Some of the vegetables just appeared suddenly — the cauliflower is doing particularly well. And we had a lovely piece of broccoli for dinner the other evening — it tastes so much better when it’s home grown. I also have beans, peas and peppers, and there’s a wee section for flowers that my wife looks after. She’s been very supportive and did most of the planting. I couldn’t have done it without her. At home we have a garden which mainly consists of flowers and is cared for by my wife. I have a fish pond and had potatoes years ago. We also have a couple of apple trees.

Sometimes I watch gardening programmes on TV, I particularly admire Monty Don and it was interesting to see him presenting a programme recently about people starting off an allotment.

All those hours we put in at the beginning — it took us 70 hours to dig the plot over initially — were well worth it. It was hard work and I lost two stones in weight within about three weeks. It is fantastic to get the exercise and fresh air, otherwise you’d be sitting watching TV or listening to the radio.

And the people I’ve met are terrific. There’s always somebody around who’s able to give you the information you need. There’s trial and error involved and next year we’ll be so much better.

Now, the work is more about maintaining what we have, and weeding about twice a week. My daughters come and help with that — the whole family is involved! It’s very exciting to see the fruit and vegetables appearing and growing, and I’m looking forward to next year when the fruit will really come into its own.”

‘Gardening’s so rewarding’

John Cameron (14) lives in Carrickfergus with his family and is an avid gardener. He says:

I’ve always been interested in gardening and have enjoyed helping out at Kilcreggan Urban Farm near Carrickfergus. So when one of my neighbours got a letter through their door about the Eden allotments I jumped at the chance and inquired about them. I thought it would be a great opportunity to have a plot of ground on which to grow vegetables and fruit, and that I’d be able to design it myself.

Of course, you begin with a bare piece of ground. I looked at it and wondered, ‘Where am I going to start?’ It was a challenge! But my mum, who is also very interested in gardening, suggested that I work on one corner first and take it from there. By the end of the first day I’d managed to work on half of the 40ft by 40ft plot — once I got going, I just couldn’t stop.

I sowed seeds for cucumber, salad leaves and other types of lettuce, carrots, parsnips and potatoes. I didn’t think it would be as easy to grow vegetables as it was. Particularly because of the weather we have here, I just didn’t imagine that lovely produce would grow so quickly, but in the last two weeks I’ve been getting some wonderful results and have been able to eat some lettuce.

It’s so satisfying to have planted the seed, weeded the ground and watered it, and then pull the lettuce from the ground. Especially when the prices are the way they are in supermarkets at the moment, it’s an amazingly good value way to grow organic produce. My family is getting involved and I love spending a lot of time every day at my plot — several hours a day sometimes!

It’s also great to mix with the others who have allotments — in fact, I would spend most of my time talking to them. There’s always somebody who can give advice if you need it.

I’ve noticed that some people have grown sweetcorn, which I didn’t think would be possible in this country — I’d like to give it a go next year.

Our open day tomorrow will showcase how allotments are created, and will hopefully encourage families to become more self sufficient. We’ll be having a vegetable barbecue, vegetable juggling and other vegetable games!”