Ireland's biggest allotment, South Dublin county council, has confiscated 15 plots since the beginning of this year's season
(Thanks David for seeing this in the Times Online)

When the growing gets tough, the trendy get going. Councils are being forced to repossess allotments from fledgling fruit ’n’ veg growers who throw in their trowels after deciding the toils of producing food are too much.

With huge waiting lists for council-owned allotments around the country, local authorities are evicting those that don’t utilise their patches, and re-distributing their allotments.

James Kilkelly of the Irish Gardeners’ Forum said that a lot of people had jumped on an allotment bandwagon. “Allotments have become very hip over the last year or two,” he said. “A lot of people with little or no experience of gardening take on large plots that they have no hope of managing and quickly get disheartened.”

Since the start of the 2009 growing season, South Dublin county council, the largest allotment holder in the country, has confiscated 15 plots and re-let them to people on their waiting list. They have also issued 14 warning letters to inactive allotment holders, warning them to start planting or face losing their patch. The council has more than 300 people on its waiting list.

Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown county council, which has 101 allotments, has taken back 11 unkempt plots over the last three years. “The allotments are inspected monthly to ensure that they are being worked,” it said. “If after two inspections they are not being worked, a warning letter is sent out and if they are still not worked the holder is informed that the allotment is being taken back.”

The council’s waiting list has doubled in the past year. Fingal council also monitors its allotments to ensure that plots are being tended. “Where there is evidence that the allotment is not being used, contact is made with the holder to see if they no longer wish to use this service,” a spokesman said.

The council is awaiting the return of between eight and 10 allotments, all of which will be re-allocated.

Fingal council said it sometimes asks novice gardeners struggling to manage a large patch to share with someone on the waiting list.

Fingal also repossesses allotments when annual letting fees aren’t paid. Most councils that operate allotment schemes charge between €40 and €100 annually, depending on the size of the plot.

Michael Fox, chairman of the South Dublin Allotment Association, said he would encourage local authorities to be vigilant. “The principle should be: use it or lose it,” he said.

“An unkempt allotment is unsightly and will take longer to recultivate if it gets out of hand. People should be realistic. You can’t just stop by for one hour a week and hope to grow anything. And if you take off on holidays for two or three weeks, you might find that all your seedlings have been damaged and it’s back to square one,” he said.

Fox said that allotment holders should spend a minimum of four hours every week on their plot. “The initial digging is hard on the back and it takes a few months to see the results, so I can see how people might get discouraged but it’s extremely rewarding if you stick with it.”

He recommends that beginners stick with crops that are easy to grow, such as new potatoes, runner beans, cabbage, carrots and soft fruit such as blackberries and raspberries. “Don’t be too ambitious,” he said.

Allotments became extremely popular in the UK during the two world wars, when food shortages and rationing forced people to seek alternative means of producing food. But despite a supermarket price war that has resulted in cheaper fruit and vegetables, interest among “lifestyle growers” has increased rapidly in Ireland, buoyed by television shows such as Richard Corrigan’s City Farm.

Last week Trevor Sargent, the food minister, said that demand for allotments around the country is phenomenal. “There is effectively a food revolution taking place in this country,” he said. “The spin-off benefits include healthier communities and greater resilience in the face of the recession and shortage of oil and food internationally.”

He also promised that larger local authorities would soon appoint dedicated allotment officers.