I’m Shanti and I love gardening. I love nature and I think the Hay Green Allotments are such a green, calming, quiet and friendly place so I love to come and potter around on my plot. 

I came here when I was 30 years old. It’s very strange, when I was living in India there was no gardening experience at all. And then when we bought our house close by, that's when we started gardening in earnest.

It was more than 10 years after we moved to this area that we finally looked at the Allotment notice board and saw that there was plot availability. We then got a plot almost the next day.

Is there an allotment community? Oh, yes, everybody talks to each other and are quite friendly. It's a lovely community. I do love that.

I think Birmingham has lots of lovely parks, but I think allotments give you more contact with nature. Just touching the soil and watering and seeing something grow that you have put in.

I think that's quite, no very, good. It’s good for mental health and well-being. I think it’s very important, especially during the pandemic times.