Gardening - Allotments Tales: 'In the 1930s Sunday gardening was frowned upon'

It feels wonderful to be back in the routine of heading down the allotment at every opportunity after such a long winter. The first spears of asparagus are poking through.

I've picked some lovely tender pink rhubarb. There's frog spawn in our ponds which is good news for those of us trying to keep the slug population down to manageable levels. A blackbird has set up home behind my compost heap.

I am getting ahead with tasks such as making wigwam supports for beans and sweet peas, resisting the temptation to sow tender seeds before the soil is warm enough. Potatoes have been planted and I am looking out for emerging shoots because they will need earthing up for protection from late frosts.

It's lovely too, to catch up with news from other plotholders who, like me, feel as if they have been under house arrest during the winter. Weekends are particularly busy times. I can't imagine how plotholders managed in the 1930s when Sunday gardening was frowned upon. These days whole families come along at the weekend. Our central pathway becomes a race track for small children on their first bikes while parents get on with the gardening.

We know we are the privileged ones and there are thousands of others longing to take over our plots. A dearth of allotments is not a new phenomenon. Over a century ago there was an acute shortage. Labourers campaigned for three acres and a cow which is probably more than most of us want these days. The issue became such a political hot potato that the 1892 council elections became known as the Allotment Elections.

Elections are here again. The Scottish Parliament has been dissolved and the battle is on to elect a new collection of MSPs on 5 May. There are council elections in other parts of the UK. Leaflets are clogging up letterboxes promoting the candidates and their promises. If you are finding it difficult to choose between them, I suggest taking advantage of any local hustings to ask the assembled representatives of the political parties what they would do, if elected, to speed up the process of finding land for all those people wanting an allotment.

Our politicians agree that growing fruit and vegetables on an allotment has benefits that go far beyond a healthy diet, but that's not enough. Practical action is what counts.

• This article was first published in The Scotsman on 23 April 2011