Many allotments are actually Officially designated ' Recreational Gardens'.In other countries where planning is far more cohesive and social housing is mainly flats, Allotments are integral to the plan, particularly in dense urban areas. Many are ornamental flower gardens, not just vegetable and fruit patches. But like here, they are cultivated to a better or lesser degree of success. There is no prerequisite for a plot holder to be an instant expert of all things horticultural. It is about quality of life how you choose it.So you shove someone in a flat, then what? Go shopping, sit idle and sip expensive coffee all day.? Sit in a pub, eat more than one should? Sit and watch Sky TV all day? There's not a lot that that one can do especially with limited means as it is. Without parks, allotments and proper public open space, there is no quality of local life. Over densification without these factored in is becoming a reality here.Try spending a bit of time in a seriously dense city. Exciting and vibrant maybe, but the the novelty soon wears off.Allotments are one of the few public amenities that embrace old and young alike. and bridges the social spectrum without imposition.And trial and error and resourcefulness and old technology are as much part of it as growing the perfect marrow. I don't think I would leave cat food for Hedgehogs but I have not even seen one locally for at least a dozen years. So what should people do to help the very few urban Hedgehogs left.? Now an officially endangered species in England.
Mark Kehoe ● 3168d