E-Paper
Queen Elizabeth II gets own vegetable patch: officials
Queen Elizabeth II has given the royal seal of approval to a new vegetable patch at Buckingham Palace, officials said on Sunday.
Queen Elizabeth II has given the royal seal of approval to a new vegetable patch at Buckingham Palace, officials said on Sunday.
Royal gardeners have been growing tomatoes, runner beans, onions, leeks and carrots on the allotment for the last six weeks and some produce has already been sent to the London palace's kitchens.
The last time vegetables were grown at Buckingham Palace was during World War II as the royal family tried to encourage Britons to grow their own healthy produce at a time of rationing.
But this time, the idea of the 10 by four metre (33 by 13 foot) plot, being cultivated without chemicals, is to help the survival of threatened types of seeds.
Claire Midgley, the palace's deputy garden manager, said: "We're not only helping to keep old varieties alive, but we're also preserving heritage and history."
The queen is not the only famous figure to get a new vegetable garden recently -- in March; US First Lady Michelle Obama broke the turf on a new allotment at the White House.