The Royal allotment

Be inspired by Royalty to grow your own

 A sustainable vegetable patch has been created inside the grounds of London’s biggest private garden the BBC has revealed. Inside the 40 acre grounds of Buckingham Palace amongst the annual garden party areas, a lake, a helicopter landing pad and a tennis court, is the Queen’s new allotment.

The Royal table can look forward to home grown runner beans, leeks, beetroot and even an endangered variety of climbing French beans called the "Blue Queen".

This will be the first time vegetables have been grown in the grounds since WWII’s ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign. This saw Royals and others produce 1.3m tons of food in order to halve food imports as the merchant navy food shipments were coming under attack.

The vegetable patch was put forward by the Queen’s deputy head gardener Claire Midgeley in the hope to ‘promote growing your own food and vegetables, getting families and children involved and getting their hands dirty.’

Allotments and home grown produce were promoted a century ago to combat poor health and excessive drinking among the working class; they fell out of popularity with the introduction of convenience foods and a better standard of living.

So maybe it’s time to go full circle again and grow your own produce to do you bit for the environment, you bank balance and not to mention your pride.