Whether it’s down to gardening programmes on TV, the need to keep fit and healthy or the recession – or a combination of all three – more and more people are growing their own food.

Across the district, 1,273 people are on a waiting list for an allotment, and Bradford Council’s allotments office receives an average of 100 telephone calls every month.

Recommendations have been put forward to address the situation, such as encouraging tenants who don’t cultivate their plots to give them up, subdividing plots and training new tenants.

Earlier this year, the first meeting of Bradford Allotments Working Group took place. Representatives of sites across the district took part and are to meet a number of times, with the aim of producing a report to the Council’s regeneration and economic improvement committee.

The group is looking at issues including whether there are enough allotments and how to establish more, filling vacancies on sites promptly and setting up a plot-holders’ forum for exchanging information and ideas.

Its chairman, Councillor Hawarun Hussain, says: “We want to change the whole process and look at it as promoting allotments positively, as a leisure activity. We are looking at tenancy agreements, water supply and how allotments are being promoted – some have long waiting lists, while others have derelict plots.”

Meanwhile, other ideas, such as sharing land, are taking off. Across the country, more than 50,000 people have signed up to Landshare, a scheme that brings together people with a passion for growing their own food.

People who have a large garden or land they do not use can advertise it on a website, and can match up with others wanting a patch of ground to garden themselves.

In Bradford, similar local schemes are emerging. Baildon Parish Council operates a ‘garden share’ scheme to match people who struggle to maintain their gardens with those who want to grow fruit and vegetables.

Garden owners give up a small plot of land for a grow-your-own enthusiast to tend. All gardeners and owners are Criminal Record Bureau-checked, which is paid for by the parish council.

Parish clerk Ruth Batterley says: “The idea, which came from a similar scheme on the Isle of Wight, is that people who have a garden that is too big for them to manage – that may be someone elderly or somebody who is out all day or unable for one reason or another to garden – allow someone to tend an area and grow flowers or crops.

“It has got to have access such as a path alongside the house, so that the prospective gardener does not have to go through the owner’s home.”

She adds: “There is such pressure on allotments. The parish council owns the two sites in Baildon, and on both there are waiting lists, so this should work. People could become friends through the scheme. It is about the community, about sharing with each other.”

The benefits of growing your own are well-documented. Bradford Council’s allotments officer Janette Goodinson says: “Allotments provide fresh, cheap, healthy food, company of like-minded people, fresh air and a place to relax. And some schools use allotments as part of their curriculum.”

Jenny Moran tends an allotment in Baildon with her husband Ray. The couple have two plots and, thanks to their hard work over the past 15 years, never have to buy vegetables.

“This year, we have 16 varieties of tomatoes,” she says. “We also grow potatoes, carrots, onions and garlic, peas, beans, pumpkins and all the salad crops. Last year, I grew a pumpkin that weighed 5st, and we grow enough potatoes to keep our family going for a year.”

The plots are also home to 30 hens, who keep them supplied with eggs. “I like to know what I am eating and where it has come from,” says Jenny.

She would like see more land released for allotments, but says that those not fortunate enough to have access to land can still grow food. “Even if you have only a small patch of ground, you can still grow vegetables. You can grow potatoes in pots and buckets.”

Janette Goodinson adds: “Gardening is a simple but very rewarding pastime – it is something anyone can do, whatever your age or abilities.”

For more about Bradford Council allotments, ring (01274) 432247/434212, or visit bradford.gov.uk/allotments. For details of Baildon’s garden share scheme, contact Ruth Batterley on (01943) 605746, or e-mail clerk@baildon.org.uk.