Page 28 - ALG Issue 1 2025

COMMUNITY
THE PRIMARY
PLOT
Coventry residents, businesses, charities and restaurants have come alongside the children of Earlsdon Primary School as they grow their own fruit and vegetables, leading a community effort to bring home growing education into the school’s curriculum.
The Primary Plot, Earlsdon Primary School’s community allotment, has been active for a year now and has hosted
a wide range of community events. Most recently, the children hosted a dinner in a local restaurant for residents using produce they had grown on
their allotment.The event was entirely organised by the children (with the support and oversight of the adults) and all three courses used produce from the allotments.
The event has added to many other highlights from the Primary Plot throughout the growing season. As we turn our attention to colder months, we explore some of the learning over the past year that has helped us in our efforts to get the
children learning through growing their own food.
Relationships
Getting the project started required agreement between different stakeholders and it was important we all got to know one another before the work began to get too busy. For us, this meant meeting on a Monday morning down at the plot for an hour to plan with a cup of tea.
Embrace the skills of the people around you
We have been blessed by the range of skills and talents across our allotment community. We obviously have lots of growing knowledge on site, but we’ve discovered there is also a lot of professional experience as well.We’ve found that people are only too happy to help if they understand what they are contributing to.
Ask for and give help outside the allotment community
We got talking to the local restaurants and found out how hard it is for them to get rid of waste products such as coffee grounds. With a bit of organisation across our membership we now have a fresh supply of coffee grounds for our allotments.
Find fun ways to share knowledge about gardening
We are big fans of games and eating
at Earlsdon Allotments, so we try to incorporate this into the things we do as a community. We’ve hosted BBQs, treasure hunts, rock painting workshops, pumpkin parties, and wreath making events down at the allotments to bring people together to garden in the community.
Eat together
Don’t waste your produce and find ways to eat communally. Like us, you could find a local community-minded restaurant that would find value in partnering with you (Thank you Millsy’s of Earlsdon!). Or perhaps you might build links with a local charity in your area and host a BBQ to support their work? Everyone has to eat, and increasingly fresh produce is hard to find.
If you are doing similar work, or if you’d like to discuss how a school allotment might work in your area get in touch at primaryplot@outlook.com
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Dixter Orange new for 2025
28 | Issue 1 2025 | Allotment and Leisure Gardener