The new allotmenteers

When I first took an allotment in the Sixties, I was given lots of good advice by many elderly men who all seemed to have been on their plots for about 35 years.

So it was a bit of a shock to realise that come next spring, I shall have had a plot myself for precisely that time and I have no horticultural advice worth handing over to anyone.

What has changed is the allotment atmosphere. When I started, holders were nearly all aged, gnarled and gloomy. Sites were being sold and the outlook looked darker than a ripe blackcurrant.

Now there is a waiting list for many of the allotments in Brighton and Hove. These days, just a third of the plotholders are pensioners and a third are women.

I am in a distinct minority in having held a plot for more than 30 years. The biggest proportion have had theirs for between one and five years.

Almost 40 per cent share their plot, halving what can be hard labour.

What's more, nearly all allotmenteers are completely organic and most make their own compost. A fifth of plotholders have grass areas where they can sit to enjoy the sunshine and scores have ponds.

The sites vary from the Weald in Hove, where I am and which has 336 plots, to tiny sites with up to ten.

One much-coveted site at The Charltons in Coldean has only four growing areas while at Peacock Lane in Brighton, there is a waiting list of 16 for the nine plots.

Allotments are hard work. To keep them going properly, you need to spend about an hour a day throughout the year. It's a heavy commitment and so not surprising many gardeners lose the plot.

But there are great rewards for the good gardener. One expert is Jim Marshall, a former councillor, who has had a plot at the North Nevill site in Hove since 1966.

In the early years of his hobby, Mr Marshall was head of Sussex CID, trying to solve some of the most difficult murder mysteries in the county.

He had a remarkable success record - as he has with his gardening.

He said: "I always went there whenever I could. You are away from traffic and the telephone. It is so relaxing.

"Of all the things I am still concerned with, the allotment is one of the last I will give up. I can go there and have a chat to the birds."

Mr Marshall grows staple vegetable crops such as potatoes and parsnips. He also produces a variety of herbs from sage to mint.

His plot boasts a fine apple tree and other fruit including strawberries, blackberries and raspberries.

He said: "You meet people from all walks of life. They are always ready to talk and help each other. It is like a club. They are the salt of the earth."

The old timers keep going a long time.

One man on the Weald was 93 when he finally handed in his spade. Another had the perfect farewell for a gardener, collapsing on his plot and dying there peacefully early one spring morning.

Henry Christie, who enjoys his role as allotments officer for the city council, said: "Older people are still the backbone of the allotment movement but there are changes. There seem to be a lot more women involved these days."

There are also collectives, such as the one on the hill between Hollingdean and Moulsecoomb, where the plot holders arrange events such as bonfire evenings.

Brichep, the environmental partnership, is running a community food project and there is a big collective working on allotments at Whitehawk.

Organisations such as the Guardianship Society in Hove, which helps people with learning difficulties, have taken over plots which are almost like gardens.

The council is also providing special raised plots on three sites for people who are disabled.

There are sites with plenty of empty plots, mainly in Portslade and east Brighton, and it may be possible to concentrate some of the community activities on them.

Allotment societies on several of the sites provide a collective voice for the plotholder and often sell seeds at knockdown prices.

They have also combined to form one allotments federation which liaises with the city council and organises competitions.

Allotments were started a century ago so working men with small back gardens could grow all the produce they needed for their families.

The plots often made the difference between decent meals and near starvation.

The emphasis has changed over the years so now they provide a hobby for men and women who want to provide fresh fruit and vegetables for their friends and families for pleasure rather than necessity.

Henry Christie believes there could still be further changes, forecast in a far-sighted official report 30 years ago, of allotments becoming leisure gardens in the way they are in places such as The Netherlands.

If they became more public places, complete with toilets and perhaps cafes, they might become even more attractive both to gardeners and to people who like looking at flowers, fruit and vegetables growing.

They won't see much of value on my plot. But I'm still learning and may have some useful advice to offer at the end of the next 35 years.

It's all a question of trowel and error.

Information about allotments in Brighton and Hove is available from the city council on 01273 292225 or at www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/site01.cfm?request=c486 .