Since 2021 the community of The Growing Project have adopted a stretch of canalside land in Digbeth which we’ve since named the Common Field. This 1,200m2, post-industrial space holds the history of Digbeth in its soil and as such, contains toxic heavy metals including lead, arsenic and cadmium at levels that are above safe limits for humans and many other animals and plants. Yet despite this, life flourishes here. Humans disturb the soil and new seeds of campion and celandine spring to life, the nettles host thousands of caterpillar diners and the clover, willowherb and achillea bob with pollinators. Among these predictable characters we’ve added phytoremediators; sunflowers and mustard greens, water crowfoot and red fescue.
