Creating an office garden 

In the third of our ‘community restoration’ series, Joss Rankin tells us how the girls in her Leeds-based office have turned a plot of wasteland into their very own salad and herb garden.

The idea to start growing our own salad and herbs came when we were discussing things we could do to make the most of spring, get out of our office, and enjoy the fresh air. Ours is a small team in a busy office and there is a temptation to stay at your desk without taking a break.

At first we had a crazy idea to get an office pet, but we realised that this was not practical (although we do have two chickens that live with some friends about 30 miles away and provide us with fresh eggs) and so instead we thought it would be great to grow things.

We tried to get a local council allotment but there were none available, and it seemed to me that a waste-land area next to the office would make an ideal plot. Last year, a small mechanics shop and some outbuildings that stood on the spot were demolished with a view to the site being redeveloped. But as the developer has no immediate plans to build on it, we asked him if we could use a small section to grow some salads and herbs and he agreed – so long as he got to sample some of the produce!

The site is covered in rubble and it is impossible to dig so we’ve made planters and raised beds from materials that were already on the site, such as half-bricks, stones, pallets, tyres and plastic boxes.
So far we’ve planted rocket, radish, red onion, sugar snap peas, coriander, parsley, thyme, tomatoes, chives, lettuce, strawberries, chard, mizuna, French beans, sweet peas, beetroot and one chili plant. We’ve also planted flowers such as Californian poppies, marigolds, salmon pink pelargoniums and purple petunias.

We chose some small herb plants rather than growing them from seed to keep people interested early on, and have already harvested rocket and radish, which we’ve replanted, and sugar snap peas. The sweet peas will be ready soon, the lettuces and beans are doing well and the mizuna has bolted this weekend. The chili seems to be sulking though.

In September we hope to enter some of our produce into local fresh produce competitions – most likely the radish or maybe the beans.

The only problem we’ve encountered is with the watering – we have to carry watering cans by hand down from the office. We have a rota but it can be tricky when the office is busy, so we’re working on getting the landlord of our office to install a water butt next to the plot.

It is nice to spend ten minutes thinning seedlings and picking a few leaves for a sandwich, though, and I’d say that we have probably saved money by growing our own – if you don’t count the top soil we had delivered. Bags of leaves and herbs can be pricey in comparison to seeds, and we have definitely had more than our money’s worth from them.

Our plot is growing as more people get inspired to try something new. When the water butt is installed we might even need another bag of topsoil as we plan to plant basil plants, Florence fennel seeds and maybe some more flowers for cutting. We will try to keep the salads going into the autumn and maybe plant some things that will grow over winter for early crops.

Joss and her colleagues work for MCG PR agency.

Parts one and two of this series tell how villagers in Essex turned an unused field into an orchard and wildflower meadow, and how some old garages in Bedford became a community garden.