Life in the Upland Allotments: Interview with Bridget Pleb

I have been in the committee for nearly 4 years in Birmingham. I was a Site secretary for 9 months until last November when I resigned.

My role consisted of the rent collection, rental of plots, administrative work, a relationship with the council, the media and applying for funding.

What do you love the most about planting food and plants in the allotments?

Everything! I love to plant vegetables and exotic plants. I have to ask myself when I've had that space, what do I like to eat? My objective is to grow what I eat to become self-sufficient. I like tomatoes, red and blue potatoes, I enjoy eating them.

I have to wait until the weather is nice. I start in January and I start sowing in little plots or trays, usually the hot peppers and the sweets peppers first because they need a longer time to germinate, they have to be in a heated greenhouse. I have to be careful not to have too many too.

I also love planting spinach and yam. I was quite successful with leaks and salads. Last time, I planted runner beans a bit too early.

How has it been managing your plot during COVID19? Have you had any challenges?

It is very challenging. I was going to ask the government for funding to get the fence repaired. Unfortunately, it hasn't been done. As they gave the money to another project. We need to get a borehole so we can get the water we need for free.

There is a lot of rubbish waste being dumped too. Which is a hazard when you are trying to grow.

Can the allotments help bring the community together?

Yes definitely. The Uplands allotment is probably the second biggest in the UK. We have nearly 400 plots in the gardens, which is a lot! In the allotments we are all from so many different countries. We have people from India, Jamaica, France and Italy. We really are a mixed population!

In the first 3 years when I was organising the gardens to bring the community to the allotment, I opened the doors of the allotments and showed them what we were growing, what we were cooking and we tested different recipes from different countries.

People in the community could see what we were doing with our produces.

We made things such as homemade syrup. I make a wonderful Elderberry syrup. There is a lot to discover and it was really nice. People really enjoyed coming and spending a few hours with us, talking to each other and discovering what we were doing.

In the allotments today, we have new people to the allotments. So that is really brilliant. It is really nice to have people from all around the community. I love being able to share with people from the community.

I never knew I could grow food here. There is callaloo growing here! I never thought it could grow in England because of the climate.

By Rhea Dehaney