Sustaining the plot (2001)
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By Richard Wiltshire and David Crouch (2001) Sustaining the Plot: communities, gardens, and land use. Entec/TCPA "... there seem to be no aspects of sustainable development to which allotments cannot contribute, and they often do so with or without intervention beyond the individual plotholder. Allotments are a source of ‘local food’, and while the primary purpose of an allotment garden is by definition to provide food for the plotholder, surpluses can be (and often are) given away to friends and neighbours, or even sold through farmers’ markets, giving the broader community access to the fruits of the gardener’s labours and raising cash for site promotion and improvements.
Allotment gardeners seem to find uses for all manner of discarded bric-a-brac: plastic bottles and unsolicited CD-ROMs spin in the breeze to deter pigeons, old carpets (Axminster by choice) suppress weeds and conserve moisture, wood from unrecyclable industrial pallets is used to build sheds, raised beds, and compost bins, and plastic drums are used for water butts - all things that might otherwise go for landfill or incineration. Composting of organic residues is common, and within the compost are contributions to local biodiversity in the city: the slow-worm, the grass snake, mini beasts! The act of cultivation exposes grubs for birds (paid for in song), while the winged vegetarians feast from weeds left to seed, or on raspberries stolen from the cane.
