It’s been a few years now since I was farming for a living. While a break from the 24/7 nature of the job was welcome, I do miss it a lot. But space to grow things is hard to come by when living in an English city, where things are generally smaller and more compact than in American towns and cities.

Luckily, there are community gardens all over the place known as “allotments.”

Their history is very interesting – they began in the 19th century, when the enclosure of the commons meant that poor people no longer had access to common land on which to grow food. Allotments were provided to mitigate this problem. Several decades later in 1908, the Smallholdings and Allotments Act meant that local authorities had to provide allotments for the poor in both towns and countryside. They also increased in popularity as leisure gardens. During World War I, the number of allotments in England more than doubled, and they saw another surge in popularity in World War II, when over 1.5 million allotment plots were in use – reminiscent of America’s own “victory gardens.” Since then, their popularity has waxed and waned and is currently on the rise again.

There are a number of allotment grounds in Oxford, and they often have waiting lists. Once we decided we wanted a plot, we waited on the list for around six months before we were able to get a plot. Once you have a plot, you “lease” it annually. Our plot costs £24 for a year, which we consider not a bad deal for a lot of space to grow vegetables (back in the early days of our allotment ground in the 1940s, plots were less than £1 annually, and you were ejected if you didn’t maintain it immaculately – no weeds!).

While plots are much smaller than they used to be, they are still quite large – much larger than your average community garden plot in the US. Many people build sheds or greenhouses on theirs, or even plant small orchards.

Depending on the allotment ground, you can even raise chickens or bees. Plots are measured in poles, a very old unit of measurement probably only still used as a measurement in allotments. One pole is around 16 feet, and a standard plot traditionally measures 11 poles in length.

We have a half plot, which is more than enough for our needs right now. And I realized, once we started thinking about what to plant where, that I had complete freedom in choosing what to grow! I always loved providing a good variety of vegetables for my CSA members, but I certainly had my favorites to grow – and my least favorites! For example, I’m not planting tomatoes, peppers, or eggplants – the summers are not as consistently warm here and I find most nightshades, especially tomatoes, fussy enough as it is.

I also get to experiment with a very different climate. It’s milder here in the summers, and not always as sunny, but it’s also milder in the winters, and perennials that would not survive a New Hampshire winter will make it through fine here.

I’ve planted lavender, rosemary and artichokes this year. The variety of leek I’m trying is meant to be left in the ground the whole winter – you just harvest when you need them. Our plot came with a currant bush, which I will be learning how to take care of, since currants aren’t really grown in the U.S.

We’ve really enjoyed having our plot so far. I’m excited to continue to improve it (we inherited it in rough shape) and experiment with the different growing climate. And last but not least, we are enjoying getting to know our allotment “neighbors,” many of whom have had their plots for decades. They come every weekend, bringing their tea in a Thermos – tea is, of course, a necessity here.

It’s a new pace for me to get used to, after farming/pottering about in my plot, and stopping occasionally to refresh myself with tea. I could get used to it.

Catherine McCosker is a former manager of the garden at the Well School. She now lives in England.