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Can’t get an allotment plot? Then help the over-60s dig their gardens
Mark Prigg, Science and Technology Correspondent07.07.09
Londoners desperate for an allotment are being given the chance to adopt an elderly person's garden and help maintain it instead.
Wandsworth council and Age Concern launched the scheme today, and hope it will allow elderly residents to enjoy their gardens for far longer.
They also intend for it to ease increasingly long waiting lists for allotments, as volunteers will be given a share of the fruit and vegetables they grow as an incentive to get involved.
“Managing the garden can be a struggle for older people,” said Sarah Jackson from Age Concern.
“At the same time, there are many people without access to outdoor space who really want to garden. This scheme will help to bring unused garden space back to life and improve the well-being of everyone involved. We've had a huge response already and are busy vetting volunteers and gardens — it's a bit like a matchmaking service really.”
Wandsworth has a waiting list of almost 1,500 for its 607 allotment plots, and says the average wait is 39 months. Other boroughs have similarly long lists — residents of Camden face a 40-year wait for a plot, in Islington it can take 25 years, while most lists in Haringey are so lengthy the council has closed them. Across Britain there are 83,000 people waiting for an allotment.
Under the Garden Partners scheme, those on the Wandsworth waiting list will be matched with over-sixties who are unable to tend their garden.
Cllr Jim Madden, cabinet member for adult care services, said the scheme would help solve several problems.
“This is such an obvious solution, I'm surprised we didn't think of it before. It reduces the allotments waiting list, helps older people take care of their gardens and encourages people to get to know older people and become friends with them,” he said.
Health experts have also backed the scheme. Graham Mackenzie, NHS Wandsworth director of commissioning, said: “We are delighted to support this innovative project. Gardening is a great way to improve physical fitness and it encourages healthier eating. We highly recommend the project to anyone who is interested in gardening or simply getting more active.”
Volunteer Ruth Joad, 42, from Battersea, heard about the scheme while studying for a horticulture qualification. She has been helping Diane Stewart, 60, who lives nearby.
“I live in a flat so don't have a garden, but I was really keen to try out what I am studying so it seemed the perfect option,” she said. “Diane and I are very different — she's a little more alternative, and has a Buddha in the garden, but I think we are getting on really well. She doesn't know much about gardening so hopefully I can teach her a little as we go along.”
The pair are digging the garden and also planting salad and other vegetables in pots. “We're also putting in a lavender garden, because as I work as an aromatherapist part time I thought that would work well,” said Mrs Stewart. “Ruth has been amazing, and after a few visits I feel like I've got my garden back. It's a brilliant scheme.”
Reader views (4)
Good to know that an idea which has been running on the Isle of Wight for over a year, has been copied by Age Concern in London.
http://www.footprint-trust.co.uk/adoptgarden.html
- Ray Harrington-Vail, Bewport, Isle of Wight
This is a fantastic idea, everybody wins. The would-be gardener finds a garden, the elderly owner gets their garden sorted out, and not being able to tend their garden worries many older people, and the community gains because people are being brought together.
- Sophie Garrett, Norfolk, UK
I have an allotment at the back of my garden and until two years ago there were just eight people using it. Now it is fully used.
This grow your own trend has really taken off...Shame about those annoying petrol driven strimmers though.
- Mark H, London England
This is excellent news! For too long now, too many Londoners have had no opportunity to garden or grow their own. The London Vegetable Garden (http://londonvegetablegarden.blogspot.com) charts my progress of growing vegetables on a balcony - the aim of which is to highlight stories just like this one - check it out and lend your support!
- Callum, London
