Involving young people in planting an edible garden

Involve Leeds based off Whitfield Avenue, next to the Library and Hub in Hunslet have been looking to improve the area around the building – to make a greener space but also a space which supported the community as well as the young people who access the centre.

We have been lucky to work with Caroline Scott from Abundant Edible Gardens who has donated us planters (recycled) and has delivered some sessions with our young people on growing food – a variety of salad leaves, kale and herbs in the planters and some sessions on the food our young people may like and use in cooking sessions in the centre.

We have now planted carrots, peas, 30 raspberry canes, 4 blackberry bushes and an apple and a pear tree. The young people, most of whom had not done any gardening before had worries about mud, bugs and worms, but all engaged in the sessions and enjoyed learning new skills as well as understanding more about food.

Even those who claim to not like veggies have promised to taste the ones they grow themselves. They are very excited to see what does grow – we did drop some seed pots – to turn our plants into food. This month we will be planting onions and potatoes.

We will be growing more that we can use so we hope local residents will come and pick salad from the planters and fruit from the bushes and trees when they are ready. Local people are also welcome to harvest peas, carrots, potatoes and potentially tomatoes if we get enough sun to grow them.

Looking to green the area is our green pledge but we also hope that if we are successful and actually produce edibles that these will be use by the young people who attend the centre but also local people.

We hope this will be the start of a bigger local edible growing project.

 

This post was written by Claire Whiteley

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