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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Arwa Mahdawi

I got an allotment to escape the chaos – and discovered a hotbed of vendettas

A Caucasian gardener lying in a wheelbarrow in a garden, with a shed in the background.
‘The main demographic is older white women with vendettas against each other.’ Photograph: Jacobs Stock Photography Ltd/Getty Images

What do you do when it feels as if the world has lost the plot? There are various answers to that question, but one of the more wholesome (and legal) is this: secure your own little plot of earth and cultivate your garden. But that’s sometimes easier said than done. In the UK, more than 170,000 people are reportedly sitting on council allotment waiting lists. A controversial scheme nicknamed “WeWork for allotments” has even sprouted up to rent out green space and fill the gaps.

I know nobody wants to come to the US at present, but, based on a sample size of one, the allotment situation seems rather better over here, where I live. It took me only a year or so to get a plot in a community garden (what Americans call allotments) near me in Philadelphia, which felt miraculous.

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