Jenny Mollison: Alottment tales

MOST PLOTHOLDERS I know get pretty excited if they can acquire some pallets. For next to nothing, pallets can be turned into excellent compost bins.

Cold Frame made out of recycled door panels on an allotment in Glasgow. Picture: Contributed

The end result is also quite pleasing to the eye. Joiners can also re-fashion them into outdoor furniture. At Oatridge College in West Lothian, I saw them used as vertical gardens, ideal where space is short.

I’ve always considered that buying new was outwith the ethos of allotment gardening. Many of my fellow plotholders in Musselburgh feel the same. There is a range of plot essentials from cold frames to fruit cages made of recycled items. Scaffolding planks no longer good enough for use on building sites can find plenty of uses on the plots. With a little ingenuity, a lot of satisfaction can be had from making something from other people’s castoffs.

Plotholders in Glasgow are celebrating how allotments can contribute to a sustainable lifestyle by competing for an anonymously donated and specially commissioned trophy made by Lotte Glob, an eminent ceramicist who lives, works and gardens in the far north of Scotland.

To compete for the Sustainable Site Award, allotments assess themselves on several sustainability criteria, including caring for the soil and diverse planting. All-year round food production, with fruiting hedges and flowers for bees, all contribute to high marks in this category. Sustaining the plotholders is another category and something at which my own site excels. We are good at helping others out when difficulties arise. Groups of plotholders also band together for a variety of activities, from organising open days and mending fences to off-loading deliveries of compost.

Of course, a sustainable allotment site needs to do more than just look after its own. It needs to contribute to the wider community in whatever way seems most appropriate, such as giving away surplus produce.

Last year 15 Glasgow alloment sites competed. I hope that others will be keen to assess how sustainable their own site is. Maybe other allotment sites will jump on the bandwagon and create their own Sustainable Allotment awards, recognising that re-using pallets and planks is about more than just saving money.

www.glasgowallotmentsforum.org.uk/Contactus/SustainableSiteAward.aspx