London rooftop gardens to feed 2012 Olympians

LONDON: Mayor Boris Johnson wants Londoners to convert unused spaces, including rooftops, into vegetable gardens in order to feed 2012 Olympians with products grown in the British capital.
 
Johnson plans to convert roof gardens, disused railway yards, housing estates and school gardens in a drive aimed at achieving “a sea of green in the air", The Times reported, adding the initiative is to be launched Tuesday.
 
The Mayor aims to create 2,012 new growing spaces in time for the Olympics, partly by offering owners of flat roofs incentives to convert their space into gardens.
 
London's flat roofs, where gardens can use rainwater, offer an area roughly 24 times the size of Richmond Park, the 2,360-acre urban park in the British capital.
 
The newspaper quoted Rose Boycott, chair of London Food - a body created by the Mayor - as saying roof gardens are ideal for growing vegetables and that hospitals could grow food in their canteens.
 
“This accommodates anything, from roof gardens to gardens in youth offender institutions, to canal banks and banks of reservoirs - the lost of pieces of land that are just gathering dust.”
 
“The eyes of the world will be on London (during the Olympics) and it is very important tit is as sustainable as it can be,” she added.