Tonight:
9°c
One of the questions urban vegetable growers often ask concerns the safety of produce grown by the side of busy roads or railways — will it be contaminated by the pollutants in the air? I asked Guy Barter from the RHS what the science said and his answers were reassuring to all those who want to grow their own in the city. There is, he told me, no problem growing vegetables beside roads and railways. Problems occur if you plant your crops in contaminated soils where there has once been either a gasworks or a metal-working factory. In these instances, it's best to grow either in raised beds or in bags, as the process of decontamination is both long and expensive.
Overall, cities are good places to grow veg, for several reasons. First, they are heat islands, so crops that love warmth grow well — sweetcorn, peppers, tomatoes and aubergines all do better in cities than rural areas. Cities are also mainly frost free, so there is a longer growing season. Water evaporates faster in cities and this, along with the mild pollution, seems to suppress fungal diseases such as scab disease of apples. Finally, wind is especially damaging, more so than cold in Britain, and cities tend not to be as windy as open country. So get growing without worrying.
* Project Dirt is one of the most imaginative vegetable-growing schemes in Britain, founded by Mark Shearer, a chartered surveyor who set up the company when he was 25. Now, 16 months later, they have 1,100 people and 120 projects, connected by a website which provides would-be gardeners with advice and the opportunity to share knowledge and experience. Mark believes schemes like his will continue to grow because he has made gardening fun, a cheaper way to live and a cool thing to do. Project Dirt takes a practical approach to green issues: if anything becomes too difficult, too expensive or too onerous, then people just won't do it.
Let's Go, Let's Grow — which is also part of Capital Growth — is one of Project Dirt's ventures. It's located in a north Westminster housing estate in Paddington where a small group of people have proved that veg can be grown anywhere, including on empty concrete spaces. Estate resident Mike Wohl set up Let's Go, Let's Grow with a small grant from Capital Growth. The estate, part of City West Homes, is tough, a genuine concrete wasteland, and before the gardening scheme began there were hoards of disaffected teens hanging around smoking dope and behaving menacingly.
The area he chose to plant up was a concrete triangle, tucked between the high-rise flats. Hardly pretty. But now there are 25 growers from 16 countries growing veg in builders bags behind Windrush House.
“Growing is more sociable and collaborative than sports,” Mike tells me. “People talk more and share ideas when they garden — about the kind of food their culture enjoys, for instance — whereas sport ends up being tribal and competitive.”
It's also the cheapest recreation around: just £3 a year to rent a metre-square bag full of earth (estate manager Vince Lyons took a leap of faith with the project and put £1,000 towards it). Along with the bag (large, £12 at Wickes, small £6, some builders merchants have used bags for £3) you get seeds and advice, but no one tells you what to grow. The result today is 38 small gardens growing 41 varieties of vegetables and an estate where everyone feels happier and safer as the menacing teens have moved on (and, in some instances, become gardeners).
There's a strong sense of community: if you are sick or have family trouble, one of Mike's six wardens will help out with watering. Mike's advice to anyone interested in following his idea is simple. “Ignore the initial negative responses — people don't believe schemes like this will work. They certainly don't believe they will last. But this is a great recreational activity: free, healthy and rewarding.”
As I was leaving, he pointed at a small boy busy weeding his garden. “The other day he asked if the carrot seed he planted on a Tuesday would be ready by Saturday. It's great to turn someone on to the growing process.” In the visitors' book, “Rachel” had written: “I've met more neighbours in five weeks than in all the years I've lived here. It makes me feel safer.”
Reader views (9)
I have tried without sucess to find pickle seeds. I would prefer Kosher dill, but garlic would do as well. Can anyone point me in the right direction? No one at the garden centers can help me, and online searches were useless.
- Chauncy Gardener, East McKeesport, PA, USA
PROJECT DIRT IS A SOCIAL NETWROK SITE! that links gardeners across London. Not a vegetable growing scheme as it states in the article. Mark started the website and he now has 1,000 memebers in his website plus 126 projects. The projects at Project Dirt have been started by communities or indivuduals that have signed up to project dirt. It is important that we all understand what everybody is doing in terms of food growing in London. There is not only food growing projects but also a vast network to support such projects
- P., London, UK
Nick and Mark have an amazing thing going with Project Dirt! They're sharing their on-going personal adventures in partnership with Timberland and Changents.com, and it's very exciting to be working with them. You can show some support for Project Dirt by following their story and becoming their Backer here: http://bit.ly/ProjectDirt. This Monday, July 27, a short and cheeky vid about their work will be released! If you're interested in helping spread the word about Project Dirt and their video, please email Nicole at changents dot com.
- Eleanor, Boston, MA, USA
i think its a must to be growing in todays climate , as a person working alone i am passionate about pushing the word and teachings further , posting up advertisements to asssist in the growing of vegetables in the local communities private and open spaces , doing such a thing alone can sometimes be tough , but you just have to keep on .. stories like this make me realise im not on my own !! good luck to you all
- Earthangel Ric, southend on sea , essex
I have 2 projects listed on Project dirtt
It' an amazing site Mark & Nick are great hands on with every project and having all these environmental projects on 1 website makes everything so much easier!
Grow bags seem to become very popular and we have just started this new growing approach as a tempory growing scheme in Southwark starting soon.
- Iris _Borgers, South london
Devonshire road wildlife garden has grown into a thriving community project.
Gardening has become the next big thing approach with many campaigns going such as ‘grow your own’ food up front & Capital growth, grass roots are growing rapidly.
People also seeking gardening advice and do the gardening sessions because the have no garden, balcony or access to an allotment, or seeking a bit of stress relief.Many of us have known it all along by I am excited and encouraged by how much the media is catching onto the fact that gardeners are growing food.
Yes, with the seemingly limitless plant choices available to us in this day and age gardeners are choosing to grow vegetable crops.
And as crazy as it sounds some of us actually value edible plants for their beauty, tucking them into perennial beds and artistically designing entire gardens around and with them. The days of sticking our noses up at veggie gardening is a snooty, short-sighted, old-school concept that most of us are more than happy to be rid of once and for all.
- Iris Borgers, south London
People should be encouraged to grow their own organic fresh fruit and veg,home grown produce near the road is still probably healthier than farm grown crops that are sprayed with chemicals 6 to 8 times a year, the soil is dead and thats why we see hardly any insects or bees as they have all been poisoned by chemical sprays, if you grow crops or flowers by the road side though you will see umpteen dead bees as they are wiped out by the traffic on their flight paths to and from their flowers. we are ripped off by supermarkets and their un nutritious stock, i mean when was the last time you saw natural grapes with seeds in, they are all seedless, shame cos the seeds are extremely high in anti oxidant compounds, England has the fattest people in europe and the convenient drug induced food that we eat has a hell of a lot to answer for
- Sean O'Leary, Walthamstow Londond
Thanks, Rosie, for this encouraging article. I agree with Mike that it's great to see projects like this succeeding on a council estate, where residents usually feel suspicious and keep to themselves. I think the main value is the human contact it fosters, though the food is nice too!
- Miriam, Leics, England
Can of course be publicly spirited and promote the hydrogen engine for public transport. If nothing else whilst out jogging and short of breath, the waste product is water vapour.
- William, Hay~Heath UK
