Is Your Street Top of the Crops?

The Horticultural Trades Association PlantforLife campaign has launched a new Neighbourhood Crop Swap initiative targeting the 67% of the nation who would like to do more gardening but don’t know where to begin. The new initiative aims to get streets in Britain growing, and most importantly, swapping their own fruit and vegetables. Neighbourhood Crop Swap is the first project of its kind and comes in light of new research from PlantforLife, which shows that the grow your own phenomenon in the UK has doubled with over half (54%) of UK gardeners now growing fruit and vegetables, compared to just a fifth two years ago.

Despite this trend, research shows 40% of people don’t think they have enough space to grow and a quarter remain clueless in terms of what they can grow. The Neighbourhood Crop Swap aims to encourage communities to work together helping them to enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables, regardless of the type of garden they have. Each household will grow two or three varieties which can then be swapped with neighbours, helping communities enjoy a variety of foods without the need for a lot of space.

To kick-start the launch of Neighbourhood Crop Swap, PlantforLife is running a pilot scheme with the budding gardeners of a street in Twickenham. Celebrity plants man Chris Collins will be working with the street, giving tips and expert advice showing, how with the right tools and know how, everyone and anyone can get planting. The whole nation will be able to monitor their progress too by logging on to www.plantforlife.info/cropswap to see pictures and video diaries from the street.
PlantforLife has also produced a handy Neighbourhood Crop Swap guide so communities up and down the country can get their new fruit and vegetable garden underway.

Log on to www.plantforlife.info/cropswap to download the  free Neighbourhood Crop Swap guide.

Lime Orchard - Your Dream Garden Designed, Built, Planted