Allotment holders sharing a growing trend

It could be a scene from The Good Life as Joanne Hart picks the vegetables from her allotment to take home to her family.

She is one of hundreds of people growing her own "edible kitchen" on allotments around the Black Country.

Waiting lists for plots in Sandwell are lengthening, so much so that they are being split in two as they become available.

Allotment inspectors are also writing to holders who are not making full use of their land, asking them to think about sharing.

Mother-of-two Joanne, aged 29, is secretary at the Tividale Park Allotments in Dudley Road West, Tividale, and cultivates her pot with help from her welder fiancée, Craig Hayes.

They are busy dividing up the plots at the moment.

She said: "We have 23 plots on the site and of those 14 people are sharing, we also have four very small starter plots for people who just want to give it a try.

"I have had an allotment here for the past two years and I grow pretty much everything you can think of, sprouts, cabbages, runner beans. I am down here most days."

The association at the site is one of the youngest in the borough. More established sites in Rowley Regis have waiting lists of up to 40 people, who have been warned they could be waiting for years.

Sandwell's allotments manager Barbara Carroll said:"There is a huge demand that has come up particularly over the past few years. We are cutting up people's plots, but when they do become available we will split them, and we are asking people to share if they aren't using their full plot."

In Wolverhampton it is the same story. The allotments with the longest waiting lists are in Penn and Compton.

Anton Emery, Wolverhampton City Council's allotment co-ordinator, said: "The increasing popularity of growing your own produce shows no sign of slowing down in Wolverhampton. We currently have around 1,100 plots at 31 sites across the city, and at present nearly all the plots are occupied.

"Often the wait is less than a year, while some can find a plot within a matter of weeks. In other cases the wait can be a few years."

Mr Emery added: "We have four small plots available at Blakeley Green, Aldersley."

In Dudley the longest waiting list is at Bayer Street Allotments, in Coseley, which has 40 plots,all let. The allotments were attacked by vandals on consecutive nights last month. They smashed six greenhouses, broke into sheds and ruined vegetables causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.

In Walsall, it is hoped a £100,000 investment will bring the run-down Lane Avenue Allotments, in Reedswood up to scratch.

There is a waiting of 12 residents hoping to get a pitch at the partly overgrown site.