Rachel Butter is a PhD student. Peter Lindow is an architect. Ian Cunningham and Adrain Brunton are retired. But what they all have in common is the love of their allotment.

Each tills a plot of land on the south-east corner of Inverleith Park in Edinburgh growing vegetables and some flowers. They share seeds, cuttings, advice and general knowledge with the owners of the other 127 allotments some of which are shared between as many as two, three or four people.

‘I love it here’, says Rachel who tills a quarter plot with three other women in their thirties. ‘It is a fantastic place to be. No one ever asks anyone else what they do in real life. There is a great community feeling. You know the other people around you on the basis of what they grow and what seeds you might share. Often I come here in the evenings and I am alone. It is very relaxing.’

Ian Cunningham who tills a full plot with his partner Rex agrees that the community aspect of working an allotment is a bonus added to the enjoyment of fresh fruit and vegetables.

‘There are several families who have allotments,’ Ian says. ‘The little ones enjoy talking to the other allotment owners. There is a little boy called Harry aged four who knows everybody and plants his own seeds.’

This year the Inverleith Allotments celebrate their Diamond Anniversary and it is a safe bet that the conversation between allotment holders has not changed much during the past 60 years. Discussions centre on the best way to control slugs (Peter favors beer traps) and snails ‘which have been so invasive this year.’

The basic choice of vegetables has remained constant. Root vegetables such as potatoes, leeks, parsnips and beetroot are always firm favourites. Rows of cabbages, ruby chard, courgettes, brassica, artichokes, broad beans and peas grow between bushes of soft fruit such as red and black currants and raspberries. Mounds of purple sage and thyme, spikes of chives and patches of parsley fill empty corners.

Flowers too have their place. In the spring, roses spill over the fence that surrounds the allotments but in the late summer the plots each of which measure a ‘rod’ (9m x 18m) are fired up with clumps of Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’, dahlias, nasturtiums and marigolds, the latter planted because they help prevent the spread of aphids among the vegetables.

Peter Lindow, of the Inverleith Allotment Association explains, ‘There are many different ways of gardening. Some people use pesticides and chemicals on their crops. Others prefer not to. Some people come every day, others just at weekends. Some start with half a plot and then go to a whole one. Some of the pensioners are so keen they work on until they drop. Everyone enjoys a gossip.’

Inverleith currently has a five-year waiting list. ‘It is annoying if people don’t till their plots and don’t let them go for someone else to use,’ says Peter as we walk past overgrown and weedy areas.

But this year at Inverleith it is not only the use of chemicals, abandoned plots and the plague of snails and slugs that are causing trouble. Someone has been setting fire to various huts and destroying the tools.

‘It has been very distressing to the people concerned,’ Peter says, adding that the committee are aware of the identity of the culprit but lack the authority to evict him. ‘The huts are unique to each plot. Some are large enough to sleep in, one allotment owner used to spend the night in his.’

Allotments throughout the country are under threat from residential and commercial developers. Hidden away beside railway lines or sandwiched between concrete buildings these small pieces of land are eagerly preyed upon by developers who find them more economical to develop than brownsites.

Inverleith is one of many allotments in Scotland owned by the Local Authority and is at present considered to be relatively safe from development. Sites owned by the railways are potentially more vulnerable to the commercial expansion but at most risk are the privately owned sites that face pressure from shareholders to release capital. Several have disappeared over the past few years such as the allotment site at Restalrig in Leith.

Allotment sites would seem well worth preserving as they provide a haven for wildlife. Inverleith has a resident fox who last year produced a litter under the association hut. Ponds provide water and a breeding ground for toads and frogs and in the spring the Inverleith allotments are alive with bird song.

‘A wren nested for a couple of years in a chaotic end of my allotment,’ Peter says. ‘A sparrow hawk hovers around and we would like to encourage thrush because they go for the slugs.’

Adrian Brunton sums up the feeling of pure pleasure most allotment owners get from producing vegetables and working in such a pleasant environment. He starts his vegetables at home in a small greenhouse transferring them to Inverleith where he spends a large part of each weekend.

‘I grow enough onions to last us the whole winter,’ Adrian says. ‘It is a lot cheaper. When you are here you are right away in a world of your own. During Saturdays and Sundays there are people working on every plot. In the height of the summer you can watch people in the park playing French boulles, football and rugby. There is always something interesting going on. And I always hear the one o’clock gun.

Photographs Roy Summers

Inverleith Allotments Diamond Jubilee prints by Jenny Cook available for £25. Contact Peter Lindow 0131 332 5311.

FEDAGA the Federation of Edinburgh and District Allotments and Gardens Associations can be found at www.fedaga.org.uk.