You could dig up a lot of asphalt': Tim Smit's Chelsea garden prioritises growing food

"When you look at towns, you realise you could dig up a lot of the asphalt and put up a lot of large growing boxes all over the place. He believed this would encourage people to eat more vegetables and pave the way for farmers' markets in town centres."

"The concept behind it is that plants such as cabbages and strawberries are beautiful but edible and should be placed alongside traditional bedding plants. He hopes the garden, which will be exhibited at the show next week, will inspire people to grow fruit and vegetables at home as well as offer a template to organisations such as local councils."

"As well as launching the Eden Project, Smit restored Cornwall's Lost Gardens of Heligan, home to 300 heritage varieties of edible plants. He has been exploring varieties of fruit and vegetables that were common before commercialisation of crops. Many are on the verge of extinction, he said, as they have been deprioritised in favour of species with higher yields or more resistant to disease."

"The Eden Project, which turned a sterile clay pit into a garden containing plants from all over the world under two huge geodesic biomes, is estimated to have injected almost 2bn into the Cornish economy. There are 8 hectares (20 acres) of outdoor gardens containing art and seasona"

A community garden concept proposes removing asphalt to create growing spaces for young people to grow vegetables. The idea pairs edible plants such as cabbages and strawberries with traditional bedding plants to show that food plants can be visually attractive. The plan aims to motivate people to grow fruit and vegetables at home and provide a model for local councils. Tim Smit, linked to the Eden Project and its transformation of a clay pit into global plant biomes, also restored Cornwall’s Lost Gardens of Heligan, which preserves hundreds of heritage edible varieties. He focuses on fruit and vegetable varieties that were common before commercialisation, noting many are declining due to preference for higher-yield or more disease-resistant crops.

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