I've visited an allotment in London where several of the plots were run by people from Afghanistan and Pakistan. They had a brilliant method of planting. On the soil they sowed salads, herbs, carrots and onions; above and around this was a rectangular framework of bamboo that served as a support for gourds. The gourds' leaves shaded the plants growing beneath, and the whole thing provided a lovely microclimate.

(This was until the politics of the Allotment Committee got to work; last time I was there all the easterners and Africans had, strangely, disappeared, and all the plot-holders were now middle-class Londoners.)