Thieves take advantage of community project

Sainsbury's 003

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.

Tags:
Incredible Edible, Sainsburys
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Jonathan Fox
Monday 10th October 2011 at 3:05 pm
A very noble idea but if only 10 people snipped the plant for example there would not be much of the plant left. Considering the foot fall at Sainsbury's it is hardly any surprise that this somewhat naive and impractical idea has fallen flat on its face. The problem was compounded by creating signage telling people to help themselves. Manning the planter with an employee from incredible edible offering sensible portions would have been much more realistic with the added bonus of the employee being able to offer information on the various herbs on offer, their benefits and tips for growing.
Stephanie Sankey
Tuesday 11th October 2011 at 2:23 pm
At last month's Artisan Market, I was standing at the bottom of Grove Street chatting to someone I hadn't seen for a while, when I noticed a gentleman in a brown overcoat lean over the little triangular Incredible Edible bed outside Nat West bank and help himself to a rather decent-sized courgette. He stuffed it into his jacket and marched off. That's one way to do your shopping for tea!!
Fiona McCarthy
Tuesday 11th October 2011 at 7:44 pm
I think it's really sad what Jonathan Fox has said; calling this idea 'naive' and 'impractical'. If people like Helen Yates and her volunteers didn't start and support community initiatives like this, Wilmslow would head for the gutters as a lot of other communities sadly do nowadays. And these people are 'volunteers' and not 'employees' and so give their time for free to help our town become a better place. And maybe if more people like the Incredible Edible volunteers got away from their computers Mr Fox and went out there and helped community initiatives like this rather than being armchair managers things like this wouldn't happen!
Jonathan Fox
Tuesday 11th October 2011 at 11:34 pm
Fiona I am not detracting from the volunteers but I am suggesting that Wilmslow is made up of a demographic that is used to getting what it wants with little regard for anyone else. The reality is thieves are making this idea unworkable. You can chose to ignore that fact but it won't change it!
Fiona McCarthy
Wednesday 12th October 2011 at 11:16 am
Jonathan, of course I understand that there will always be people who try to ruin projects such as this but hopefully these people will always be in the minority. And it takes people like this group to keep peoples spirits up and optimistic that our town can stay a nice place. And surely if people gave up after the first hurdle they had to overcome then there would be no youth clubs/school groups/community initaitives like this at all!! Stick with it Incredible Edible I say and lets help to make our town one to be proud of!
Keith Harris
Wednesday 12th October 2011 at 1:20 pm
I agree with Fiona, if nobody is willing to try to change attitudes you are basically condoning this "I want I take" attitude. Also to Stephanie's comment, excellent that is what is supposed to happen, not digging out plants!!