Residents of Orchard Park in South Cambridgeshire were recently given the chance to try out just how green their fingers were thanks to a joint initiative between housing association bpha and South Cambridgeshire District Council.

The event, dubbed ‘The Big Grow’, gave residents access to free herbs, vegetables and flowers, which they could take home and plant in their gardens.  Amongst the goodies given away on the day were lavender, rosemary, basil, tomatoes, chillies, peppers, courgettes, strawberries, cabbage, and cauliflower.

With more than 50 residents attending to try their gardening skills, the day, which followed on from a similar event last year, was a resounding success.

Residents were also given the chance to try out their artistic talents, with a local artist, Andrew Crawford-White, coming along and helping people decorate pots for plants, which will be placed around the neighbourhood.

Mr Crawford-White said, “Part of my artistic practice is to engage the community in creating their own ecological interventions in their neighbourhoods.”

“I worked with residents on the ‘Big Grow’ so that residents could decorate pots to place around the development, enabling every resident to benefit from watching the plants grow and change over the coming months.”

Residents themselves were also very impressed with the day.  Mrs Williams said that the day was a lot of fun and that it was an excellent opportunity to both meet other people living in her community and try out her gardening skills.

‘It was excellent; all residents got a chance to meet each other while painting pots to make Orchard Park brighter over the summer.”

“Having vegetables and herbs to take away is great, we can’t wait to see ours grow and look forward to eating them!”

The ‘Big Grow’ is just one of the events that are held regularly throughout bpha developments.  For more details visit www.bpha.org.uk or ‘Like’ them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/bpha.uk