For the first time since the Second World War, Buckingham Palace will grow beans, lettuce and tomatoes from seeds donated by Garden Organic on a new allotment plot in its gardens.
Garden Organic's Chief Executive, Myles Bremner, said,
“We are thrilled that the Palace not only has its own allotment, but that it is also brimming with vegetables grown from rare seeds donated by Garden Organic.”
“The fact that this is the first time that food has been grown at the Palace since the Second World War will undoubtedly bring about the 'dig for victory' analogies, but those challenges for self sufficiency and a need to re-skill a generation in how to feed itself resonate even now. What is important is to put people back in touch with food and how to grow, and hopefully the Palace allotment will be a driver for getting more people to achieve this.”
The Palace has been donated seeds of six endangered, historic vegetables from Garden Organic's Heritage Seed Library - a collection of over 800 rare vegetable varieties – including, tomato White Queen, Queen of Hearts and Golden Queen, lettuce Northern Queen, climbing French bean Blue Queen and dwarf French bean Royal Red, all of which will appear on the allotment.
A palace spokeswoman said the Queen is a green gardener. She said: "No chemicals have been used to cultivate the allotment sites. Liquid seaweed has been used to feed the plants and garlic is being used to deter aphids. Like the rest of the garden, water from the palace borehole is used to irrigate the plants”.
