An herbal remedy for disused city space in London

Managing Director, Leah McPherson and trainee at Cultivate London’s first site.

McPherson is aiming to sell twenty to forty thousand pots and bags of herbs as well as helping ten young people into employment.

By Rhiannon James
The City Planter
May 11th, 2011

Excerpt:

Most people are drawn to farming by the thought of lush, green fields rolling away into the distance, rich soil and fresh country air, but not Leah McPherson. For her, there’s nothing like an empty bit of London tarmac to whet her appetite for cultivation.

But then, McPherson is no ordinary farmer. She’s the Managing Director of Cultivate London, a new social enterprise which is on a mission to convert vacant city land into flourishing urban herb farms, which will supply Londoners with locally-grown produce whilst also giving unemployed young people the opportunity to build a career in gardening.

Standing in the first Cultivate London site, a small plot in Brentford, with arms deep in compost, McPherson says, “I find it quite personally offensive that in a city like London, where land is at such a premium, there are massive bits of it that sit disused. And so I come very much from the point of view of wanting to maximise the use of urban space, as and when it becomes available.”

She’s got a point. According to the National Land Use Database of Previously Developed Land, there’s over 600 hectares of vacant brownfield land in London, equivalent to around 750 football pitches, and that’s not even including derelict land which would need clearing or other work before it could be used. McPherson’s plan is to use this space to grow herbs such as flat-leaf parsley, mint, basil, oregano and dill on a commercial scale, which will then be sold to London shops, cafes, and wholesalers.

Read the complete article here.