Members of a Rutherglen gardening group are helping locals stay green-fingered during the Covid-19 pandemic – by giving them mini-allotments to develop.
The initiative from Grow 73 has already proved popular with residents, who are enjoying trying to grow their own beans, peas and sunflowers.
The allotment idea is also tied into the gardeners’ Pollinator Beeline project, which is to stretch from Rutherglen train station into Cathkin.
Eugenie Aroutcheff, of the charity, explained: “We got some National Lottery funding for the pollinated pathway from Rutherglen railway, where we would find green pockets along the road to plant pollinated plants and vegetables.
“It was really to help people’s knowledge grow as they would discover things while out walking.
“We were wondering how to keep this going after Covid-19 happened, and at the same time we knew a lot of people were suffering from a lack of healthy food – this was around the time of the all the food disappearing from supermarkets, and that got us thinking about helping people find an interest in growing their own food.”
From there the mini-allotments idea came about, with Eugenie taking a small empty egg box and filling it with compost and seeds.
Originally, the plan was to hand them out to locals randomly, but the group received a number of requests on their Facebook page.
Since then more requests have followed, much to Eugenie’s delight.
She added: “We wanted people to engage with their food and think about how to get involved with making it. Getting them to grow carrots or beans is an easy way to get families working together around the concept of food.
“When we shared the idea on Facebook we got a really good reaction, the most we’ve had there in over an year.
“It’s simple as it’s just a little egg box filled with compost and seeds and it’s just a nice thing to do.
“Anyone can do gardening as you just plant your seeds and watch them grow and hopefully something like this shows people how easy it is to get involved.
“All age groups have been getting involved, not just the children, and gardening is something that is good for your mental health, too.
“There are a lot of benefits to it all, especially at a time like now.”
Anyone interested in getting a mini-allotment of their own should visit Grow 73’s Facebook page and message the group.
