Every fortnight your local Wildlife Trust gives you an expert insight into the wildlife around you and shares some tips on how to enjoy it. Colby Benari, BBOWT volunteer, digs up some fun at the allotment.

Allotments are becoming more and more popular in the UK and it’s no secret why: they are great for enjoying the great outdoors and saving a few pennies along the way.

With waiting lists for prime allotment spaces increasing every day, we’re lucky to have an abundance of growing space in Oxford.

And the bonus is that fruit and veg are never as satisfying as when you’ve tended them yourself; I recently harvested a big bunch of lettuce from my windowsill pots and it made for the most delicious salad I’ve ever had!

Nothing says recession-proof family fun like spending the day outdoors on the allotment. Kids can get involved by having their own patch to tend to and helping to pick the spoils of your hard work too. It’s a great way to get to know your neighbours and your local area, and all that digging will no doubt get you fit! There’s no better time to have a go; the National Allotment Gardens Trust is running a week of raising awareness about allotments from August 10-16, during which allotment associations around the UK are holding exhibitions and open days.

Allotment growing can be beneficial for wildlife as well as people. An organic garden works with nature, instead of against it, to yield gorgeous and appetising fruit and veg.

Organic gardening is not just about ridding your gardening kit of pesticides. It is also about creating a bit of land that is beneficial for nature. Peat, for example, is often used in potting soil and new seedlings, but the bogs where peat is harvested are a limited resource that is being over-exploited. Do your bit by going peat-free in your allotment.

Composting your raw food peelings and tea bags enriches your soil and creates less waste for landfill. You might feel daft carrying a pail of rubbish to your allotment but your plants will thank you for it.

Wildlife-friendly pest control is a real concern for organic gardeners. Fences will usually ward off larger mammals, but for slimy slugs there is a far more stupefying solution: simply sink an open bowl of beer into the soil. In the morning you will find the slugs ‘swimming’ in hoppy bliss. Or you could try encouraging predators such as hedgehogs by leaving leaf or compost piles – when they move in, they’ll soon hoover up the local slug population!

Attracting beneficial insects will also help to keep pests away from your plants. Nettles attract aphid-eating ladybirds, while log piles will encourage larvae, beetles and spiders. And attracting pollinating insects, like bees, hoverflies and butterflies, can also increase your crops.

So with a little planning your allotment will become a tiny Eden for plants and wildlife alike.

To find out more about gardening for wildlife, visit www.bbowt.org.uk or call BBOWT’s Wildlife Information Service on 01865 788307. For details on national allotments week visit the NAG Trust website http://nagtrust.org