Meet the Brummies reclaiming urban space to feed their local community

Dan Blyden is growing food and connections in a disused concrete corner of Aston

In Birmingham, the UK’s second largest city, concrete extends as far as the eye can see. But some of the city’s residents are reclaiming the space around their homes with greenery. Dan Blyden is one community activist growing food in his “urban farm experiment.”

Across the tarmac from a row of garages in Aston, an old wash yard has been converted into a tiny allotment by Blyden. Vegetables and herbs reach toward the sky after a heavy thunderstorm the night before. Now the morning sun is burning and the farm is verdant.