Their Say column

PEOPLE in North Lanarkshire are being encouraged to grow their own plants, fruit and vegetables in allotments, orchards or gardens this year to celebrate World Kitchen Garden Day on August 26, 2012.

Europe’s largest greenspace initiative, the Central Scotland Green Network (CSGN), is supporting the drive to increase the appetite of Scottish communities for home-grown produce. Community growing, which takes kitchen gardening a step further and involves shared growing spaces, is central to the CSGN vision of creating an environment which supports healthy lifestyles and good mental and physical well-being.

Community growing can lead to increased access to better nutrition in the face of rising supermarket prices; increased physical health through gardening; and improved community engagement at local and international levels around the universal experiences of gardening, cooking, and eating.

CSGN has pledged to significantly increase the area of land used by communities for growing plants, fruit and vegetables, such as allotments, orchards and gardens.