The great potato dig in!

A lot of work has been carried out by the Allotment Officer on the Scotchman Road allotment site to make it more inviting to new tenants. This has been so successful that there is now a waiting list! Recently Jane Robinson, who heads up the BCEP Grow Organic team, had the bright idea of reclaiming a neglected area of the  site.

She sent out an open invitation to a number of groups who she thought might be interested. The deal was: if you help us plant seed potatoes, you’ll be contributing to the further regeneration of the site and will have a share of the subsequent potato crop later in the year.

On the actual day, there were willing workers from the BCEP Asian Women Gardeners group, the Down To Earth group from West Bowling allotments, the Bradford Action for Refugees group and some workers from the local Mind group.

Even though the ground had been cleared and rotivated, digging the six long trenches for the potatoes was very hard work. Mattocks and pick axes had to be used in some areas. But everyone got stuck in and within two hours the spuds were in the ground and the trenches were earthed up.

There was a lovely sense of satisfaction as refreshments were drunk and the diverse groups of helpers went their separate ways.