GREEN-FINGERED volunteers have helped stuff growbags as part of an initiative to turn Railway Village doorsteps into vegetable patches.

Incredible Edible Swindon and the Mechanics’ Institution Trust called on people from across the town to take part in their Grow Bag Day at the Central Community Centre in the Railway Village on Wednesday.

The event - codenamed The Three Sisters - has been put together as part of a project to deliver 25 growbags to the front doorsteps of properties in the Railway Village.

This will see 25 residents receive free growbags in which to grow sweetcorn, peas/beans and courgettes/cucumbers. They are collectively named the Three Sisters as they help each other to grow.

“Given the go ahead and funded by a REFRESH grant from Swindon Borough Council, we’ve done the planning and now it’s time to deliver” said Hannah Parry, community development co-ordinator for the trust.

“We’ll soon be having a Cake Saturday afternoon this weekend where the 25 residents will come along to collect their sweetcorn plants, propagated by Incredible Edible Swindon.

"Over the next two months the residents will plant the rest of the veg and at the end of the season they’ll be harvesting free vegetables.”

David Sparks, a member of the Incredible Edible team, said that it had been a lot to get through in the one day, but they had been well supported - despite the rain.

“The project has lots of different aspects to it, from getting people started in a bit of gardening to helping build the community as more people share experiences and tips on how their vegetables are growing. It’s also fun for the children and educational too," he said.

The concept of Incredible Edible started in Todmorden back in 2008, when like-minded people came together and decided they wanted to find a way that everyone could help improve their own community.

“They decided the answer was food and the idea was to use currently unused urban spaces for growing edible produce,” said David. “Our Three Sisters project is replicating that in a small way, by using the area to the side of each front door of 25 homes. The residents will harvest their free veg when it’s ready.

Incredible Edible approached the Mechanics’ Trust in late 2015 to discuss the project after seeing it mentioned by Naomi Schillinger in Grow Your Own magazine.

“This was a first for Swindon and we thought it was a great proposal, so were really keen to see it happen,” said Hannah.

"The growbags are large, robust green woven bags made to last beyond this year’s growing season. This is a pilot project for the Railway Village and with success we hope to double the number of residents having the bags next year.”

David added that benefits seen from the London project had included people stopping to chat to each other more and whole families getting involved with the growing.

“What’s really nice is that people will know what goes into their plants and forget food miles – this is food moving just a few feet from the door to the plate.

“We’re so grateful to everyone who has helped so far with the growing projects at the community centre, they’ve done an outstanding job. We’re now really keen to engage more people with a mini-project on their own doorsteps.”

There will also be a flower planting session this Saturday in the raised beds at the Central Community Centre from 11am until 2pm.

For more information email hannah@mechanics-trust.org.uk or call 07709 642511.