May 4

A growing idea

Since I was a child I have been fascinated by growing fruit. My first attempt in our back garden at Bushey Road, West Ham, to produce my own strawberries was a failure but over the years I have had some success in producing fruit and vegetables in my garden at Winnipeg Drive, Cardiff.

I have even raised tomatoes and mint in tubs on my flat balcony in Penarth.

So I am delighted to see that this grow-at-home idea has caught on. Across Britain hundreds of groups are transforming spare land into micro gardens, producing fruit and vegetables for their communities.

‘Fourteen years ago in Yorkshire a ‘Right to grow’ was organised and the local council allowed them to plant trees and vegetables in unused, neglected public land.

Now the idea is catching on and more local authorities are seeing the benefits of using verges and waste land to grow food.

The next step is to persuade the government to back the scheme and it seems possible as there is cross party support.

I have been impressed by town streets overseas lined with apple trees, providing an array of blossoms and free apples, in contrast to the ill chosen street trees throughout Britain that are a danger to pedestrians - and scooter riders like me.

It would go some way to meet the soaring cost of fruit and vegetables, much of which is imported.