There are 101 council-run allotment sites in Leeds today, most of which have their own active groups or committees that make becoming an allotment holder a great way to forge new friendships too.
To celebrate National Allotments Week, we've taken a trip back into the Yorkshire Evening Post archives for this collection of pictures from the early noughties.
They capture school visits and the filming of television segments as well as the efforts of local people to transform run-down plots into something to brighten up their neighbourhoods.
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7. Hollins Drive
Plot holders Peter Copeland, centre, with Peter Langham and Brian Baxter take part in clearing up rubbish in the allotments at Hollins Drive, Headingley, in January 2002. Picture: Tony Johnson
8. Armley Ridge Road
Pupils from Raynville Primary School visited Armley Ridge Road Allotments in June 2002. Pictured, left to right, are Nathasha Lazar, allotments secretary Mark Jackson and Matthew Davison. Photo: Tony Johnson
9. Headingley
Steven Good, Clare Thorpe and Suzanne Hall had applied to the Leeds Safer Communities Millennium Award in November 2001 for cash to develop a run down allotment in Headingley. Picture: Emma Nichols
10. Haleys Field
Plot holders Ronnie Garbutt and Ron Short enjoy the sunshine at the Haleys Field Allotments in Bramley in May 2001.
11. Award winners
Allotment growers Clare Thorpe and Suzanne Hall, from Tinshill, were celebrating in December 2001 after being awarded the Safer Communities Millennium Award Scheme at West Yorkshire Playhouse. Picture: Dan Oxtoby
12. University of Leeds gardens
Geoff Whiteley, a senior lecturer at the University of Leeds Biology Department, is pictured in the university gardens in April 2004 as he stands on top of a pile of Strulch, a mineralised straw mulch for gardens, allotments and flowerbeds. Picture: Gerard Binks