10 Reasons to Get Your Own Allotment
There are some very good reasons to get your own allotment and they're not all obvious.
Grow your own food. Well, ok. This one is obvious. Fresh and home-grown food doesn't require chemicals and "processes" to keep it "fresh". So it's probably a lot healthier.
A sense of achievement. It’s very satisfying when your crops produce and when you’ve created a relaxing environment away from the rat race of modern life. Which coincidently is the next reason.
You can create a relaxing environment away from the rat race of modern life. It’s nice to just sit at the end of your plot, listening to the birds and the sound of strimmers in the distance. The occasional whiff of a rose, carried on a soft breeze or the pong of the compost bin because you didn’t plan the layout of your allotment well.
Get some exercise. Allotments are cheaper than gym memberships and the odours are definitely better. Also, gyms are unlikely to gift you with organically grown fruit and veg.
Breathe fresh air and get the sun on your skin. There’s something about being in the “outdoors” that satisfies a primal need. And by outdoors, I mean surrounded by nature, not concrete and tarmac.
Meeting people with a shared interest. Allotmenteers are a friendly bunch. They’re usually willing to offer advice or just chat about those pesky crows and pigeons. In many cases, (as I found out recently) it’s the only socializing they do.
Improve your mental well-being. It does. It really does. Well, for me anyway.
You can take your time. There’s no pressure to create the perfect garden and no-one is watching over you to make sure you do the work. Put in as much or as little effort as you are comfortable with. There are usually rules against letting your plot become overgrown, but that’s about it.
You can play the parsnip game. The rules are easy, just tell someone you have the allotment and see how long it takes them to mention Christmas and parsnips in the same sentence.
Reduce your carbon footprint. Of course, locally grown food is better for the environment than shipping it from thousands of miles away, but there are other things to consider. While you’re on your allotment, you’re not sat at home on your computer, wasting electricity playing pointless computer games and watching crappy Youtube videos. Granted, this one is very specific and may not apply to everyone.
So that's 10 good reasons to get your own allotment, but there are probably more. I didn't even mention chickens (I don't keep chickens) or the wildlife (I don't have a wild life). Even on urban allotments, there can be frogs, slow worms and a wide variety of birds. It's like an oasis in a desert of concrete and brick.