Meet the Leeds couple who turned an 'overgrown dumping ground' in Seacroft into beautiful community gardens

Over the past five years residents Linda and John Otley have created Seacroft Forest Garden, which Linda calls “a little piece of nature in a sprawling council estate”.

Now the group are asking more members of the community to help maintain the garden, which donates most of the fruit and vegetables they grow to the local food pantry and a local foodbank.

As a member of Climate Action Seacroft, Linda first had the idea to create the garden when she regularly walked past the “overgrown dumping ground” between South Parkway and St James Approach and wished something could be done about it.

“We kept walking up and down the ginnel all the time and thought it was ridiculous because there were old lawnmowers, mattresses, all sorts. It was an eyesore,” says John. “Linda had the idea to turn it into a forest garden and, as a dutiful husband, I said ‘yeah alright love’.”

After long negotiations with Leeds City Council and support from Hyde Park Source the garden became a project of Climate Action Seacroft. In 2021 the group were finally granted permission to grow food on the land, which had been derelict for nearly 20 years.

“The area was so overgrown with waist-high weeds that we could hardly open the gate,” says John. “It took a full week with a strimmer to clear enough area for more volunteers to be able to access the land.”

After being officially opened in July 2021 the garden has gone from strength to strength. “Most of it is now fully accessible,” Linda says. “We’ve got about 20 fruit trees growing now, 100 fruit bushes, perennial vegetables and have started a herb area.”

Produce on the garden includes rhubarb, blueberries, jostaberries, goji berries, pumpkins, carrots, courgettes, lettuce, potatoes, and herbs such as sage and basil.

“We’ve also started planting a good old staple of the Yorkshire diet: liquorice,” says John. “When we had a group of children up here they were surprised that it came out of a plant because as far as they knew it came out of a bag with other sweets.”

For Linda and John one of the biggest sources of pride for the garden is the support it gives to the community through food donations. “There’s a cost of living crisis,” says Linda, “and just to be able to help people in a small way gives us a sense of achievement.”

John feels community gardens such as Seacroft’s could be a way forward for other communities. “With everything going through the roof I do think Britain should get back to that old 1940s style and ‘dig for Britain’, then give the food away to people. Why not?”

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Despite the garden’s success, Linda says they need more people to help maintain the land. “We are struggling with lack of volunteers,” she says. “They don’t all need to dig for hours on end, there are plenty of smaller jobs to do that would really help.

“It’s a pleasant place to be. I find it a calming environment. We all know that when you are in nature it helps your mental health, and this helps you physically too.”

John agrees: “This is it. This is Seacroft. We get a bad rap. Seacroft always gets a bad rap. But there’s a lot of good things going on in Seacroft and that’s what this garden makes me feel. When I walk through that gate I think ‘Yeah, we’re doing something different’.”