Local authorities have been offering allotments up to 85 times smaller than traditional plots to cope with soaring demand.
There are around 175,000 people on the waiting list, some for up to 15 years, to receive one of the estimated 330,000 plots of rented land across the UK.
The unprecedented appetite for allotments, most of which are council-owned, has been fuelled by the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
To meet it, a whopping three quarters (76 per cent) of councils have slashed the size of standard plots, a study by the Association for Public Sector Excellence (APSE) found.
The classic allotment is 300 square yards, offering growing room for a crop of fruit and vegetables sufficient to feed a family of four.
But now fewer than a third of local authorities (32 per cent) still provide allotments of this size, the body which works with councils to improve frontline services found.
Half-sized plots of 150 square yards or even quarter-sized spaces coming in at just 75 square yards are all too common across the country.
Nearly one in five (17 per cent) allotments are even smaller, measuring up at only around 35 square yards to offer ‘micro’ or ‘kitchen garden’ spaces.
Local authorities have been offering allotments (pictured, file photo) up to 85 times smaller than traditional plots to cope with soaring demand
The unprecedented appetite for allotments (pictured, file photo of owners of an allotment in the village of Horden, County Durham), most of which are council-owned, has been fuelled by the ongoing cost-of-living crisis
The classic allotment (pictured, file photo) is 300 square yards, offering growing room for a crop of fruit and vegetables sufficient to feed a family of four
And shockingly, some tiny ‘starter plots’ for novice gardeners are just 3.5 square yards – 85 times smaller than a full-sized allotment.
The annual survey of councils by APSE found local authorities are ‘adapting to unprecedented demand for allotments by introducing smaller, more manageable plots’.
APSE’s report author Matt Ellis said: ‘In the face of acute demand and budget pressures, they are not just maintaining allotment services but actively reimagining them.
‘By creating smaller plots, they are making them accessible to a new generation of gardeners with busy modern lifestyles.’
TV gardeners Alan Titchmarsh and Charlie Dimmock have similarly long advocated dividing up allotments to tackle demand.
‘It cannot be beyond the wit of local councils to provide half and quarter-sized plots as well as full-sized ones, according to demand,’ Mr Titchmarsh suggested.
‘That way, waiting lists could be reduced and more people introduced to the delights (and challenges) of growing their own food.’
Ms Dimmock similarly said: ‘A lot of plots are way too big for the average couple and if you halved them and halved them again that would be more practical for many people.’
TV gardeners Alan Titchmarsh (centre) and Charlie Dimmock (left) have similarly long advocated dividing up allotments to tackle demand. Pictured: Mr Titchmarsh and Ms Dimmock with Tommy Walsh, presenting BBC garden makeover programme Ground Force
Mounting pressure on council budgets has seen local authorities make drastic decisions when it comes to allotment provision. Pictured: File photo of Combe Down Allotments in Bath, Somerset, from last year
The former co-presenters of Ground Force, the BBC garden makeover programme, feel it would help slash waiting lists – which seem to simply keep growing.
Nearly a third of authorities (31 per cent) have left more than a thousand gardeners in limbo, up from just eight per cent in 2019.
The burgeoning demand has seen some councils simply close their waiting lists altogether.
Meanwhile, mounting pressure on council budgets has seen local authorities make drastic decisions when it comes to allotment provision.
Disgraced former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner recently came under fire for letting cash-strapped councils sell off designated sites to make way for housing.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn recently hit out at the former Labour frontbencher for personally approving the sale of eight allotment sites across the UK.
This did not include her patch in her Greater Manchester constituency Ashton-under-Lyne, where she has championed allotment projects.
The sites sold under her watch included one in the town of Storrington, West Sussex, to make way for 78 homes.
Disgraced former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner (pictured) recently came under fire for letting cash-strapped councils sell off designated sites to make way for housing
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (pictured) recently hit out at the former Labour frontbencher for personally approving the sale of eight allotment sites across the UK
Tory housing spokesman Paul Holmes said at the time: ‘Ms Rayner has been exposed as an arch-hypocrite, the ultimate NIMBY who thinks selling off everyone else’s allotments is fine – just not in her back yard.’
Prices for plots themselves are also rising, with 15 per cent now costing more than £140 a year to rent a full-sized allotment – and some as much as £250.
The number of authorities charging less than £60 a year has dropped by almost a third (32 per cent) since 2019.
Brighton and Hove City Council in East Sussex is among those offering 30 square yard ‘micro’ plots.
Its 2,829 plots on 37 sites also include 12 square yard plots for people with restricted mobility or wheelchair users.
The London Borough of Havering, meanwhile, is among those to have introduced tiny 3.5 square yard ‘starter plots’ to allow first timers to try their hand at horticulture.
But councils waiting lists remain stubbornly long, with a recent study by building materials supplier Dino Decking finding people are typically stuck on them for four years.
Diane Appleyard (pictured), of the National Allotment Society, is among those in Bristol with no chance of ever getting a full-sized allotment
The longest lists include Portsmouth City Council (7,420 people), Edinburgh City Council (6,846) and Bristol City Council (6,466).
Two years ago, Greenpeace found a whopping total of 174,183 applicants were on waiting lists, which had doubled in length since 2011.
Some people in parts of London were waiting as long as 15 years to be able to grow their own, Freedom of Information requests sent to every local authority in England, Scotland and Wales revealed.
Mike Farrell, chair of the National Allotment Society, said the situation has deteriorated since.
He said: ‘Some councils have closed their waiting lists and studies don’t include people who know they aren’t realistically going to get one any time soon not bothering to try for one.
‘Councils shrinking allotments is a crafty way of reducing waiting lists.’
The expert acknowledged though: ‘Any allotment that gets people into gardening is a good idea and a traditional 300 square yard allotment can be rather daunting for someone who is working.’
Diane Appleyard, of the National Allotment Society, is among those in Bristol with no chance of ever getting a full-sized allotment.
She said: ‘It is years since anyone has been able to get one here but a quarter is enough for me now.
‘I grow soft fruit and veg like broccoli, kale, sweetcorn, squash and runner beans and have a fig tree that has got more prolific.
‘And I have a miniature pomegranate that had never fruited until this year.’
