Allotment gardening is great for all sorts of reasons – to produce healthy chemical-free fruit and vegetables to eat, to tempt you outdoors with a useful hobby that keeps your mind and body active, and to give you a place to switch off from work pressures and other commitments. The list goes on.
But it’s not that easy, as people find when they start renting a plot. The reality isn’t quite what you see on TV gardening programmes which focus on what to grow and how to grow it, with examples of how gardens and allotments look after months or years of effort. So often it’s a shock to realise that it can be hard physical work to prepare the ground for cultivation, plus the expense of getting kitted out with tools, sheds, seeds, plants and so on.
At Ward End Gardeners Association (WEGA) sites, we aim to provide some options for the busy or inexperienced gardeners out there.
- Join the WEGA Gardening Club – called New Shoots – at St Margarets Road site. This has been going since 2019 and in 2023 we extended it to a second plot and got a grant from the Hodge Hill Neighbourhood Network Scheme (NNS) to provide raised beds for people with mobility problems or in a wheelchair, and make the toilet more accessible.
Special Offer expiring 31st March: start coming along on a Tuesday or Thursday between 12 noon and 3pm in March. Join the Club with a year’s free membership for over 50s and people with disabilities. We work together and learn together
Raised bed for a wheelchair user 
Club member working on a raised be 
Planting potatoes in a raised bed 
Courgettes, beans, beetroot, leeks and pears from our second plot
- Join the new project at Northleigh Road Site where we will be renting out raised beds on a plot opposite the pavilion – but there’s only 6 now left. This is also grant funded from Hodge Hill NNS for 1 year, so we have resources for helping you get going as well as support, advice and information from our Committee and other plotholders
- Mini-plots and Small plots available on all of our 5 sites if you don’t have the time or experience to take on a Standard Plot. Standard plots are really only suitable if you can spare 10 hours a week during the growing season (that’s how much time they need to get the best from them)
The Committee members in Association and other plotholders can give the benefit of their experience to any new person willing to listen and learn. And you can’t move for people wanting to share their successes – on YouTube or other on-line places (WhatsApp groups etc), so why not give it a go?
Look at the Links page of this website for organisations and websites you can look at and find out what’s involved.
For more information and to arrange a visit to one or more of our sites, use the Contact us enquiry form on this website to get in touch with Ward End Gardeners Association, and look at the pages for each of our sites on this website to find out which is nearest to where you live.