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Community garden's food supply hit by dry summer

Phil Chapmanand
Jenny Coleman,North West
BBC Victoria Holden has dark hair tied back in a bun. She is wearing a blue and white striped t-shirt, green dungarees, a denim jacket and blue gloves. She is standing in an orchard and is holding up a small pear to the camera.BBC
Victoria Holden says the community garden has not produced the usual amount of food

A community garden has been forced to throw away food which was destined for the local community as a result of recent dry weather.

Volunteers from NorthernLily CIC, a social enterprise in Oldham, said up to three quarters of its plants, fruit and vegetables simply did not survive the hot summer, and the failed crops had to be composted.

"Normally we grow over a tonne of food, which equates to 12,700 meals worth, and we give that away to our community," said Victoria Holden.

"Unfortunately, I'm not sure we'll get to a tonne this year - and that's real fresh food that normally supports our community which is now not going to be available."

Three dead plants in black plant pots are lined up against a fence
Volunteers say the garden's plants, fruit and vegetables have all suffered in the heat.

"We lost a lot of plants. We had to just reduce everything down in the polytunnel to what could cope with that, sometimes, 55 degree heat," she said.

Holden said tropical plants like the chillies, gourds, aubergines and tomatoes had survived, but the produce was "about a quarter full to where it would normally be at this stage in the year".

Victoria Holden, pushing a wheel barrow of dead plants along the path at the community garden.
The garden provides produce which is supplied to the local community

Volunteer coordinator at the garden, Samantha Turner, described the garden in Failsworth as "baked".

"It's particularly bad for community gardens because you can't have people necessarily here every hour of every day," she said.

"At a home garden you've maybe got the chance to go out when it's been dry.

"If you lift up the top soil a couple of inches now it's still dry underneath," she said.

Three people are tending to a large planting area as two other people stand by. Dead plants are being removed from the ground.
Volunteers have been working to recover the site

The community hub on Marlborough Drive runs regular gardening workshops, as well as a range of other nature-based activities which aim to help improve wellbeing and inclusion in the community.

Samantha Turner has mid length brown hair and is wearing brown framed sunglasses and a black t-shirt. She is stood in a garden with green plant sin the bacvkground.
Samantha Turner said the garden had been "baked" this summer

Holden said the best thing to keep plants hydrated in a dry spell was to "water well" every few days.

"So the best thing to do for your plants, to know that they are definitely getting water properly, is to count to 10 when you're watering," she said.

"Just do that once every couple of days, and you know they have had a good drink and those roots are going down as far as they can."

She also advised to "be prepared" and to set up as many water butts - containers which store rainwater - as possible.

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