Incredible Edible Wilmslow has been busy this year planting vegetable plots around the town to provide a constant supply of fresh produce for everyone to smell, taste and enjoy.
The group has been bringing likeminded people together, who already grow or intend to start growing their own, to share knowledge and to enhance community spirit in the town, however some people have unfortunately been taking advantage of their efforts.
In July they planted a herb planter outside Sainsbury's with chives, mint, oregano, bay, thyme, sage, rosemary and lavender. Mail Boxes Etc kindly provided a sign inviting people to 'Help yourself!' which unfortunately was taken too literally - within a day seven of the plants had been taken, leaving only the chives.
Incredible Edible replanted and changed the sign to illustrate how to snip just the bit you need, but the next day, whilst everything else had been snipping correctly, the bay plant had been removed.
The bay plant was replaced for the third time recently in a new planter and within two days it was gone - this time however a security camera was focussed on the planter so Sainsbury's are checking the footage and hopefully the offender has been caught on camera.
Helen Yates, who launched Incredible Edible in November 2010, said "The idea is that you just snip the bit you need and leave the plant to continue to grow for the next person to snip the bit they need. It's a community project that we are sharing and these plants are donations from volunteers or the local Garden Centre Ned Yates, who have been incredibly supportive throughout the last year.
"This works on a very small budget, it's about local people pulling together to do something nice for our town that we can all share and depends on local people's generosity, not selfishness. Most recipes only call for a single bay leaf, so to take the whole tree is not only stealing, but it could potentially kill or damage the tree making it unusable, instead of lasting for years and being useful to hundreds of people.
"People are welcome to take cuttings to grow their own plant at home but to take the whole plant is totally against the community spirit of this project."
If treated properly herbs will spread and can then be divided amongst more sites so people are requested to snip with care to leave the plant healthy. The plants will need to rest over the winter so there's not much time left to snip now but they will grow again in spring so local residents can share again.
Helen added "If you're not sure what to do, ask Sainsbury's trolley attendant Mark, who's a mind of information on growing herbs and how to cook with them."
More herbs, fruit and vegetables can be found by Waitrose, the library, Bank Square and the old Wildings shop, with more sights coming next year.
Volunteers meet at the Romany Caravan at 2pm on the first Sunday of every month - you don't need to be a gardener, just happy to join in with others to make our town look, smell and taste a little better.
Photo: Will Hale, Wilmslow High School Green Team rep and Incredible volunteer, with his mum Alison Hale, who is also a regular volunteer, and Town Councillor Paul Barton, who works at Sainsbury's.
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