Youth project gives youngsters gardening tips

Youngsters in Sunderland are helping to shelter locals from the financial implications of the credit crunch by handing out their home-grown fruit and vegetables, it has been revealed.

Participants in the Boldon Youth Project have been regularly tending the community garden as part of an effort to grow fruit and vegetables, the Sunderland Echo reports.

Onions, potatoes, beetroot, cucumbers and strawberries have already been harvested, with eggs also having been supplied by chickens living in the garden.

There is also more produce to come – tomatoes, corn on the cob, lettuce, cauliflowers, cabbages and peppers are all scheduled to be picked in the coming weeks.

The Boldon Day Centre in Wilfred Street, Boldon Colliery, has been the chief beneficiary so far, but other community groups are also set to profit from the scheme.

According to Maria Anderson, Boldon neighbourhood management initiative manager, participants will not only have helped people in the area financially but they will also have picked up a few tips along the way.

"The group has been having great fun picking the produce and tending to the chickens and, in the process, they have learned a great deal about horticulture," she told the newspaper.

"The produce was very warmly received by the staff at the day centre, who will use it to prepare fresh meals for its elderly users."

To boost yields greenhouses are often used to grow fruit and vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.