7 minute read
Common ground – Ramsgate allotments and the people turning them green
Margot preparing the soil at Stirling Way Dave at Stirling Way Mike and Charlotte at Chilton West
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▲ Kaye and Paul at Chilton East ▼ Natalie at Chilton East
Industrialisation in the UK led to a surge in new urban areas for the working classes, with little provision in terms of green spaces. Although the practice of renting land out – allotting it – to individuals for noncommercial cultivation has existed for hundreds of years, the Small Holdings and Allotments Act of 1908 meant that councils were obliged to provide allotments where there was demand. During the second world war the Dig for Victory campaign was established by the Ministry of Agriculture to increase self-sufficiency during periods of shortage and rationing, encouraging people to grow their own food, not just in their own gardens but in allotments and public green spaces too, from parks to school grounds, which were ploughed to create vegetable patches. By 1943 there were almost 1.4 million allotment plots, and in the 1950s their popularity soared. There are currently only about 330,000 allotments in the UK, though
the combination of pandemic, food supply issues and rising costs has seen a revival of interest, and allotment waiting lists are now longer than ever.COMMON Ramsgate has five allotment sites – GROUND Cecilia Road (Cemetery Gates), Chilton Lane East, Chilton Lane West, Margate Road and Stirling Way (Jackey Bakers) – all of which are managed by Ramsgate Town Council and on-site volunteer reps. Writer Laura Nickoll Visiting the sites, it is striking how remarkable they are in terms of diversity and the air of contentment, Photographer industriousness and cooperation. Each Jaron James plot is a form of self-expression for its tenant, with regimental serried beds Ramsgate’s allotment communities sitting alongside higgledy-piggledy plots; both equally productive in their are thriving and reveal a world of own ways. Potatoes, brassicas and biodiversity and abundance, hard alliums grow within yards of fruit trees and bushes, nut trees, climbing plants, graft and lifelong friendships flower beds, beehives, chicken coops, small orchards and even vineyards. Ponds, bug hotels and bird feeders all encourage an abundance of local wildlife, from stoats, hedgehogs and foxes to butterflies, frogs and bees. Tenants represent a cross-section of the local community and each plot boundary is a shared path, where seeds and plants might be swapped, or gluts of produce offered. Advice, solicited or not, is always on hand. Interaction isn’t a prerequisite, however: some plotholders are happy to keep themselves to themselves, tilling the soil, tackling the weeds and tending their patch. Whether they’re on their plots daily or just at the weekends, plot-holders – who range from teachers, health service workers and chefs to retired military personnel and artists – speak of a sense of refuge at the allotments, and how engaging with nature benefits their physical and mental health. Charlotte, a homoeopath, shares her plot with long-time friend Mike, a potter. For Mike, the allotment was a lifeline: “When I lost my mother I found this was such a relief, to be up ►
here, working gently and nurturing something. Being where life is just happening offers solace, as there’s so much going on.”
“In the first lockdown, Mike came down here a lot,” Charlotte says. “I have a garden but he just has a little yard. It was such an escape, a way to get away from the madness. He was very productive.” Charlotte shows me their “lasagne” beds, a no-dig method of layering up everything you’d put in a compost bin that then breaks down into a nutrient-rich mulch ready for planting, and their fruit trees and majestic globe artichoke plants. She and Mike have tended the plot together for 18 years. “I wanted to know where my food was coming from,” explains Charlotte when asked why she requested an allotment. “We grow without pesticides or herbicides and it’s as organic as it gets, but we can’t guarantee no nasties; we’ve noticed the micro-plastics turning up in everything. It’s distressing, but you’ve just got to get on with it.”
Kaye Daniels, Chilton Lane East’s site rep, echoes this desire to resist chemicals. “We try to be as organic as possible,” she says, “to encourage the wildlife.” Indeed, in 2018 Chilton Lane East won a National Wildlife Trust Gold medal.
“Ingenuity is key for plot-holders and gardeners,” Charlotte says, “you learn to respect the cycles.” While a robin perches nearby on their blossoming apple tree, they talk about the joys of spring and summer and their encounters with nature: “We celebrate the ancient spring festival of Beltane, lighting a fire should the weather permit. We want to keep connections to old ways of marking the change in seasons – maintaining the threads that connect us with our ancestors.” Come summer, “it’s so verdant. Everything’s fresh and vigorous.”
The unofficial code of practice is to reuse and repurpose things, not buy new: piles of spare pallets, sheeting and chitted potatoes are a common site at the entrance of the allotment sites, and there’s always someone busy constructing a shed, greenhouse, fruit cages, polytunnels or raised beds out of scrap materials. Manure and wood chip donated by local stables and tree surgeons are often heaped by the entrance, free for everyone to use.
There’s an official code of practice: every tenant must cultivate their plot and keep it tidy, the size of structures such as sheds are limited, the entrance gates must be locked at all times, and social harmony is key; letters of caution are given to plot-holders who are consistently not maintaining their patch or wantonly breaking the rules. The site reps explain the code of practice to every new tenant and offer ongoing support. Kaye gives them a special variety of giant garlic bred by Godfrey Power, a plot-holder who died in 2014, and she runs a Facebook page for the plot-holders, and thanks to her fundraising a lodge was built on site – a place where people can get together, borrow gardening books, cookbooks and make tea. “I’m one percent site rep, one percent fundraiser for the site, ninety-eight percent plot holder,” says Kaye. “I get to know everyone, so if someone’s not turning up, I can check in to see if they’re okay.”
Allotment fundraising efforts include organising summer barbecues, afternoon teas, and produce and plot competitions. Emma Cole, the allotment officer for Ramsgate Town Council, liaises regularly with the reps and supports the fundraising. The town council finds their input invaluable, says Emma, for “ensuring the good condition of the site and the plots, fostering a healthy community spirit and helping with any disputes. They are the first point of contact for all tenants – they have a wealth of experience and are always happy to help new tenants.”
John Moosab retired a few years back and is now site rep for Newington’s Stirling Way site, tending to his own plot, feeding his chickens and helping other tenants every day of the week. “I couldn’t sit in the house all day,” he says. While giving me a tour, which takes in a community hut replete with a newly installed log-burner and a memorial wheelbarrow for George, a much-loved tenant who passed away a few years ago, he explains, “We all muck in.” I meet Sarah and her daughter Margo. Sarah has just acquired a Stirling Way plot and I ask John for any tips for new plot-holders. “Little and often’s the trick,” he tells me, and, “Start with potatoes, as they help break up the ground.” Creating an edible landscape is quite a commitment, but no plotholder I meet, old-timer or newbie, has any regrets. The benefits, from physical exercise and positive mental stimulus to the sense of community and nutritional advantages from growing your own food, make it worth the wait. And nothing tastes as good as something you’ve grown yourself.
To cope with demand, whole plots are no longer available; instead, they are divided into half plots and quarter plots. Over to Emma: “Quarter plots are more manageable for an individual who is on their own or a new tenant without any previous experience, and current annual rents are £22 a year for a quarter, £44 for a half.” For anyone involved in a community garden project who wants to set up a new site, or expand an existing allotment site, the Amity Allotment Fund (run by the Kent Community Foundation) is open for applications and is offering grants of up to £7,500.
Janice’s recycled bottle greenhouse at Chilton East
