Community allotments grow from strength to strength
With a funding injection and the expansion of their site, the Mitchelstown Allotments Group continues to be a huge success.
The group, located on Church Hill next to the children’s playground, began in 2015 on a site which was once a makeshift tip.
The allotments, an initiative of the Mitchelstown Community Council, sees people grow produce on a small plot of land. They have filled phase one of the project with 21 plots and now phase two sees ten more plots opened up. They have also received funding of €1,000 to help them construct a polytunnel, which will enable members grow produce which need high temperatures to survive.
Verling Fitzgerald, who is chairman of the Allotments Group, and a member of the town’s community council, said there has been steady growth since it started seven years ago.
“We started up these allotments at the back of the church in 2015. When we started we only had seven members, but it has steadily grown over the last seven years.
“We have two phases in our plan, phase one is full, with 21 plots. We are now moving on to phase two. We brought in a digger last week and we ploughed the second half of our allotments.
FINDING NATURE
“We’re delighted really because a lot of people have been asking to come in and we’re really happy that they are ready to go now.
“There has been a lot of work done here. We also put aside land for local groups such as the mental health group. The service is perfect for gardening and being in the outdoors, especially in these times when people need to find nature again.
“We have plots to suit all sizes, big plots, small plots and raised beds. The plots will suit everyone and with all of us together, we grow a lot of produce throughout the year,” he said.
Verling explained the attraction for members of the communal garden.
“You are involved from start to finish. When you have the piece of ground and then you prepare the ground, put in your seedling or a seed potato, and over a few months see it growing, and flowering. You have to look after it, you have to tend to it, get it natural light and it will nourish it.
“The great joy, at the end of that process, is to dig it out of the ground, bring it home and eat it. It is something that has been done for centuries and we all get to enjoy that.
“You can buy your veg in supermarkets, with a lot of pesticides and processing involved in agriculture - all the produce we grow here is organic and nutritious,” he added.
BUSY
One of the leading members of the allotments is Murat Terzi, who has been busy designing and building the polytunnel.
“Last year I built my own Polytunnel from recycled timber and piping. This allowed me to grow produce which can be protected from wind and the elements. This year I made an offer to Verling and Joanna that we could do with this facility (Polytunnel) and that was it.
“I said I would build the
Polytunnel, which is 36 square metres. Most of the things you grow in it need a high temperature, the peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers. Cucumbers are very fragile, you need the heat for those plants.
“They are the three most popular plants, but there is a lot of stuff that can be grown outdoors,” he said.
Murat, who is also an accomplished photographer with his own studio in Kilworth, has spoken about the incredible welcoming multicultural atmosphere of the allotments.
“Gardening is in my family. We have a long tradition of gardening in Turkey, where I am from originally, in the north. I am here in Ireland for the last 15 years. The community here is very multicultural, there are seven or eight different nationalities here gardening.
“There are different plants from different parts of the world being grown here and it is fascinating to see how they grow. You get more ideas from plants you never saw before.
“The best land and soil is Irish soil. All the people in here don’t use sprays or weeds, we don’t use any chemicals - we are fully organic,” he said.
‘GOOD FOR THE HEAD’
Another member of the group is Joanna Davern, she said that the growth of the facility is down to the great work of the community.
“Last week we put up pictures on our Facebook of what it was like in 2015 and it put in perspective, the work we have put into the place over the seven years.
“We have taken out a lot of rubbish and stones and turned it into something that people can have a great enthusiasm for, and it is a great interest for people to have. There is a great community spirit, even last week there were eight or nine of us here helping out with the tunnel,” she said.
“It is a great distraction from Covid and we also have eight or nine nationalities here. We have a new person today from Ukraine, different people and different plants from around the world, we can learn from each other.
“We have a system of using left over seeds and it can really help to broaden our horizons and taste new things you might not have before. I enjoy it, it’s good for the head and the body. Digging holes is good for the head,” she added.
POSITIVE
Another local, David Casey, spoke about the positive environmental impact that the group were having on a small plot of land.
“This area before was more or less a rubbish tip, a lot of plastic, a lot of glass and metal, actually tipped here.
“They then came along and covered it with top soil, but with us doing the allotments we have come across glass and plastic and in doing so, we have segregated the rubbish and taken it away. We have cleaned up all this area here, approximately a foot or 18 inches into the ground. That in itself, that is a real positive for the area,” he added.
Verling said that for anyone interested in joining the group, information was available from the group’s Facebook page, as well as directly from Mitchelstown Community Council.