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Singapore: I got an allotment garden and a community came with it

The bare allotment garden on the first day, April 2021. (Photo: Rachel Teo)

There’s nothing that fosters community better than learning how to grow some greens in a little space alongside others, says Rachel Teo.

By Rachel Teo.
CNA
Sept 12, 2021

Excerpt:

When my partner and I heard that NParks was building a new allotment garden in the neighbourhood, we jumped at the opportunity to throw our names into the hat to lease a plot.

It may sound strange to be excited by a 2.5m by 1m concrete box filled with soil, but as plant lovers strapped for space and sunlight in our apartments, this was too good to miss.

The Allotment Gardening Scheme started in 2016 at HortPark. It was so successful, there are now over 1,700 allotment gardens in public parks across the island. The lease is for three years and it costs S$57 a year. The scheme is so popular, the slots are always fully subscribed.

So when we got a phone call from NParks with news of a successful ballot, we were elated. We immediately started reading up on tropical plants, companion planting, and permaculture – the design and maintenance of agriculture as a synergistic, whole system.

Several months later, the new allotment garden was built and we were allowed to commence planting. We took leave and headed down to the plot in the morning, armed with bags of soil amendments and a newly purchased spade.

Read the complete article here.