Craving helped give community the taste for growing concern

UNTIL a few years ago, Andy Austerfield was not what you’d call green-fingered. In fact he couldn’t understand why some people devoted Sunday afternoons to weeding or got pleasure from losing hours inside garden centres.

It was a strawberry plant which set him on the path to conversion, but even now Andy admits he was an unlikely candidate to head a community garden scheme.

“My mum lured me into gardening,” says Andy, who is part of Incredible Edible Wakefield, a spin off from the original Todmorden scheme. “When she was pregnant with me, she had a really craving for strawberries. A few years ago she couldn’t think what to buy me for my birthday and then she suddenly had a thought. That year I woke up to a couple of strawberry plants and to be honest that was it. I was hooked.”

Like many people, Andy didn’t have a garden of his own and with lengthy waiting lists for nearby allotments, he decided to see what other opportunities there might be to indulge his new found passion.

“There was a small group of us who wanted to find somewhere we could grow our own fruit and veg,” says Andy. “St John’s Church in Horbury has quite extensive grounds, but some of the land had become quite overgrown. Back in 2009 we approached the church to see if they would hand some of it over to us. They did and that was really the start of Incredible Edible in Wakefield.”

Today the group has two community gardens, a number of mini allotment plots and as well as running a series of gardening clubs and a programme of expert talks, it also helps to promote local produce through a free food map.

“A lot has happened in four years,” says Andy. “But often all it needs is for a few people to get the ball rolling. In the community gardens we try to grow plants like gooseberry bushes, strawberries and courgettes. The whole idea is that we want people to come and take the produce and we have found they are more happy to do that if it’s from a plentiful crop.”

Incredible Edible Wakefield will be heading to Harlow Carr in Harrogate on Wednesday as part of the Royal Horticultural Society’s launch of Britain in Bloom.

This year, the theme is edible gardening and with the organisation having just set up a new fund, which over the next three years will give away £100,000 to support grassroots gardening in Yorkshire, the RHS is hoping this year’s campaign will have a particular impact in the county.

It’s also a chance to get away from the traditional Britain in Bloom image of carefully manicured floral arrangements.

“It isn’t just about pretty hanging baskets brightening up gloomy streets,” says Stephanie Eynon, RHS community horticulture manager. “It’s about improving the environment, enhancing lives and bringing communities together through gardening. We will be giving away 30,000 packets of seeds and Edible Britain will also see new public herb and vegetable gardens planted across the UK.”

Applications for the first year of the RHS’ Yorkshire in Bloom fund, which is being supported by the Yorkshire Post, have now closed, with the bulk of the money being given away in small grants of between £300 and £500. However, the organisation was also looking for one flagship project which would see an investment of up to £10,000. The winner will be decided by Yorkshire Post readers with the two finalists profiled in the newspaper on April 20.