TREASURED ALLOTMENTS

Olga Grieves shares her experience of allotments in Poland, where life on the plot is about so much more than growing fruit and veg

- Olga Grieve

Every time I travel somewhere new, the number one thing on my agenda is to visit a local garden. Not the grand estate gardens, but the everyday gardens and allotments. There's so much to be learned from seeing first-hand how others grow and enjoy their green spaces. After all, problems shared are problems halved and you never know - you might just take home a golden nugget of wisdom you wouldn't have discovered otherwise. I grew up in Poland, in a small town in the south-east, where the local factory was - and still is - the main employer for most of the 12,000 residents. One of my favourite pastimes as a child was visiting the local allotments, known in Poland as “działki.”

These spaces are the lungs of many cities and towns, magical places where everything feels different the moment you step through the gate.

Often, I would spend hours watching life unfold from the fourth-floor window of our council flat on - believe it or not - Allotment Street, which had a direct view of the site.

If you follow any Polish gardeners on social media you may have seen them refer to their plots as ROD. This abbreviation stands for Rodzinne Ogrody Działkowe, which translates to Family Allotment Gardens. Some call them Rodos - a longer version meaning Family Allotment Gardens with Fences.

A POTTED HISTORY

‘The history of Polish allotments dates back to the late 19th century when, at the peak of the industrial revolution, the need for green spaces and home-grown food became apparent. One of the first allotment sites was established by Dr Jan Jalkowski in Grudziądz, which was then part of the Kingdom of Prussia.