Trust helping people to grow their own
THE Canal & River Trust has donated young vegetable plants to people living in Birmingham to enable them to grow their own produce during the Covid-19 lockdown.
The plants were being grown by trust colleagues and volunteers with a view to them being planted along the Birmingham Canal Navigations in the centre of the city.
The plants have been donated to community business Share Shack EAT MAKE PLAY, where they have been distributed to vulnerable families and older people in the local area.
They can be planted at home in the garden, in small containers on balconies or in window boxes and will help communities to grow their own fresh vegetables, providing home-grown food to those most in need during the current crisis.
The crops, propagated by the trust in its canalside greenhouse in central Birmingham, include a wide variety such as lettuce, rocket, herbs and beans as well as heritage varieties of carrots and tomatoes.
Keith Grubb, from the Canal & River Trust, said: “We initially planted the greenhouse so we could grow plants for our flowerbeds along the canal in Birmingham as well as provide vegetable boxes for our colleagues and the local foodbank.
“With the current lockdown and social distancing measures preventing that, we thought it would be nice to do something to help support our local communities rather than see these veggies go to waste.”
He added: “So far we’ve had a fantastic growing season so we are hoping we can keep on donating until the current restrictions have ended. There is something lovely about being able to grow your own food from scratch and we are just delighted we are able to help people in our community at a time when everyone needs to pull together.”