A plot on the landscape

The Deputy Prime Minister has ordered an audit of the country's allotments as there are worries that a number are being sold off for housing, car parks and supermarkets. John Prescott is right to be concerned. It would be criminal to get rid of allotments; they are a slice of the countryside in the city.

We didn't know they existed in London until about a year ago. My wife, Kasia, and I started visiting a local farmers' market in Chiswick and nearby we saw a series of allotments. In the summer they were overflowing with sweet peas, tomatoes, strawberries and marrows ... everything you could imagine. We had just bought a house down the road so we started making enquiries about getting our own plot. The idea of growing food seemed so romantic.

The local council put us in touch with the Chiswick Horticultural Society, which sub-lets the land off the council. Even though our house has a small garden, we would rather keep it for a lawn and flowers, so an allotment was the perfect solution.

The society said several vacancies had come up at a plot near Duke's Meadows on Chertsey Road, right behind our home, overlooking the Thames. Best of all, the rent was only £22 per year, which is cheaper than average.

It was just a bit of weed-driven earth when we got it in January, but now it's a bountiful vegetable garden. If you compare what you might spend a year on organic produce in the supermarket, it makes perfect financial sense.

We have a nine-month-old baby girl called Helena and feed her only organic food; we don't want her growing up on the chemically sprayed rubbish from the supermarkets. And you can't compare the taste of runner beans freshly picked from your garden to anything sold in a shop - organic or otherwise. More than that, the pleasure and satisfaction you get from growing your own food is immeasurable.

Our allotment is four metres by 10 and was covered in rubbish when we took it over. So one Saturday in February we held a picnic, got in lots of beers and invited all our friends and relatives to do the hard work. It was a good
excuse for me to buy new tools. First the weeds had to be lifted, then the soil was sieved and covered with organic manure.

Finally, the fun bit was sowing the seeds. Fortunately my mother is a very experienced gardener and helped us divide the plots into separate areas - broad beans, tomatoes, artichokes, runner beans, potatoes, horseradishes, lettuce and rocket, plus lots of Italian vegetables as I'm a bit of Jamie Oliver fan. My mum is also growing flowers on the plot.

Young plants need a lot of tender love and care - because we don't use pesticides, we use natural methods such as putting jagged stones around the spinach, and nets - and to begin with we regretted taking on the extra responsibility. I work long days running my company, Alex Findlater Ltd, providing bespoke interior design to clients including Jade Jagger, Dan Macmillan and photographer Mario Testino, so that doesn't leave much spare time. Kasia looks after Helena on top of her job as a chiropractor. The plot needs at least five hours of digging, weeding and getting dirty. I wanted to go straight to the picking, cooking and eating bit.

In late March, little sprouts started to appear. Soon everything was just growing like hell; it was incredibly exciting. I find a baby carrot much more attractive now than mere flowers. It will be a few weeks before anything will be ready to harvest and I can't wait. When you have fresh produce, meals can be much simpler because the food has real flavour; you don't need to smother it in salt, butter and herbs.

We have big plans now - a shed, more vegetables, herbs and raspberries and some sweet peas. It will be a good way to introduce Helena to nature and food - you can get so out of touch if you live in a city full-time as we do. Kasia comes with me to the plot in the evening - apparently, young mums account for 20 per cent of tenants - or mum and dad will bring a bottle of wine to enjoy down there.

There's a nice community at the allotment site; young as well as the elderly. One lovely old boy, who has been there for 25 years, keeps chickens and gives us his eggs. And some of the plot designs are great - a wall made out of green bottles, a fence from carved-up tyres.

On a fine evening, with the sun setting and all the wonderful smells, you forget for a few hours that you even live in the Big Smoke.