On Tuesday 14th November, students of Brunel University donned their warmest jackets, worn-out wellies and dug out their gardening gloves for the first Grow Your Own workshop of the year. Located in Mill Hall Courtyard, the scheme offers to educate, encourage and inspire students into growing their own produce on campus, for the personal, financial and environmental benefits. The area offers four planters, two planted with edible plants such as sage, lemon balm and curry plant, and two planted with non-edible plants.
This workshop was focused on growing your own herbs and collecting your own cutting, which can be used in cooking, beauty or even for nutrition. Armed with rosemary cuttings and a variety of parsley seeds, our Grow Your Own Co-ordinator George Hudson and myself, headed on down to the site, hoping that the rain would hold off until after the workshop. At first, the grey sky seemed a daunting presence over our heads but with Vice President CHILS popping in to plant her own free herbs, word soon began to spread around the Union of the freebies and Union staff and officers started rushing down to get their own personal plants - the chance of rain was not going to stop this workshop.