The plants in the Pop up allotment

The Vegetable Bed in Castle Park was the brain child of Steve Clampin, Bristol’s allotment manager and has been run by him for several years. We decided at the beginning of the year that this year Incredible Edible Bristol would volunteer with the planting of the bed, whilst hoping to find a community group to look after it.

The plants were all grown by Rod Pooley at Blaise Nursery, Bristol City Council’s award winning nursery that provides not just plants for Bristol, but for lots of areas around the country. Council nurseries like Blaise are few and far between today but in the past were often the starting point for many horticultural careers, including Alan Titchmarsh, who went from this type of nursery to then study at Kew Gardens. They always turn out true plantsmen.

The plants were used first at the pop up allotment at Food Connections and then we planted them out properly on the last Friday of Food Connections Week, in glorious sunshine. We also had the pleasure and honour of being interviewed by the BBC’s Gardeners Question Time team and it was a real honour to meet Bob Flowerdew and Pippa Greenwood and talk all about Incredible Edible Bristol.

The plants finally planted into Castle Park Veg Bed.