Start of the harvest at Eastwood Allotments

Allotment founders Steve Taylor and Lisa Patten picked their first peas, beans and potatoes last Saturday, creating their first meal made with homegrown vegetables.

Fellow plotholders are now beginning to reap the benefits, with each weighing their produce in an experiment to calculate the carbon savings they’ve made by growing their own — a nod to the financial help received from the Climate Challenge Fund.

Steve told The Extra: “Come harvest time, we’ll reveal how much pollution the allotments are likely to save over the next few years — but for now, we’ll just enjoy the taste of freshly picked vegetables.”

Steve, who led fundraising activities for the project — almost seven years in the making — added: “It hasn’t been easy for plotholders. The land we inherited was full of weeds, covered in crushed wood, heavily compacted and lacking nutrients — so for many of us it has been back-breaking work.

“But we’ve enjoyed all the hard work, and now it’s inspiring to see so many successful crops emerging.”