Every silver lining has a cloud

Strawberry spinach
Strawberry spinach, growing safely

Allotments have been big news for at least a year now. With a growing emphasis on green lifestyles, and food scares, more and more people are going back to growing their own. It’s not all plain sailing, although most people only have to deal with slugs and snails and not pesky porkers.

The current economic situation also seems to be fueling a rise in interest in growing your own food, and if it continues then it will no doubt mean more people looking for an allotment. This can only be seen as good news, stemming the tide of allotments being sold off for development.

But having an allotment is hard work (as I found out) and not for everyone. I feel very sorry for those allotmenteers and kitchen gardeners who have been affected by the current contaminated manure crisis (see Daughter of the Soil and Bifurcated Carrots for good posts on this topic).

And it seems that, with money tight, two-legged rats are becoming more of an issue than ever. Not content with vandalism and destroying what other people have worked so hard to create, they’re now starting to steal people’s crops as well. That news reports covers thefts from Elder Stubbs allotments, a very forward-thinking site I was lucky enough to visit last year.

Posted 4 July 2008, 07:02.   Posted in .

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