THERE is more to comfrey than a wacky cup of tea. In a hidden corner of The Meadows, they cannot get enough of the herb. As well as offering a medicinal brew, plants from the symphytum genus, when put back into the ground, make a knockout garden fertiliser.
What Arkwright Meadows Community Gardens does with comfrey has helped the venture secure the highest prize a British good cause can win: the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service.
It's an accolade that acknowledges a grass-roots attempt to put ordinary city-dwellers back in touch with good nutrition, and to show the next generation that there is a better alternative to junk food.
But there is no finger-wagging from project leader Rachael Hemmings and the passionate team of assistants and volunteers down a lane not far from the Bridgeway Centre.
It is a place not for the dogma of nutrition politics, but for discovery, sharing ideas and offering residents good food at the right price.
The shouting and laughter beyond the pond and bee hives, from the playground of Greenfields Community School, is a reminder of AMCG's function
"It remains a community garden with the emphasis on the community itself," says Rachael.
"It's about educating the kids of the neighbourhood on the origins of good food as well as the gardening itself.
"And at the same time it's an open project. People can come in, bring their kids and ask questions. The art on the walls is done by local people."
Established in 2001, and developed on a recreation ground coveted only by fly-tippers, AMCG has progressed to the point where last year's Britain in Bloom judges described it as "perhaps the best example in the whole of Britain."
The Queen's Award, presented recently by the Lord-Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire, Sir John Peace, will have further raised its profile.
The area's 1970s redevelopment was not conducted with visitors in mind so they may need to ask a local for directions to the site. Once there, they will be astonished both by the industry and the range of produce.
The former is represented by people like Rachael and her assistants Jo Gradwell, Katey Wright and founder-member Albert "Jimmy" Pitter, and by volunteer gardeners such as Wendy Martin.
For Jamaica-born Jimmy, growing his food has long been a way of life. "I didn't know what eating out of a fridge or freezer was about until I came over here," said the retired Nottingham bus driver.
On the day of our visit, Wendy was not gardening. She was there as a shopper, paying for a couple of cobs of corn and some pak choi.
Wendy, also a volunteer at other gardening projects, said: "I started when I lost my garden when we came to live in the city. I get a lot out of it."
A tour led by Rachael takes us past clumps of aubergines, tomatoes, cucumbers and several types of peppers – with big African-Caribbean and Asian populations, demand is high.
Passing apricot and fig trees, we enter the main circular garden area and find quadrants of rotated crops, all encouraged by lashings of home-grown comfrey compost.
Beloved of organic horticulturalists, deep-rooted comfrey draws a high NPK ratio into its leaves, meaning they have plenty of potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus.
Pak choi, spinach, kale and a second crop of beetroot were all flourishing. Meanwhile the trees were yielding goodies such as the Kentish cobnut, a softer and sweeter cousin of the hazel nut – and even the medlar.
The medlar fruit is best "bletted" – allowed to brown and rot – before being eaten as an accompaniment to hard cheese or turned into jelly, or even the medlar cheese that has been created with AMCG fruit; like lemon curd, you combine the fruit pulp with butter and eggs.
Prices have to be competitive for local food shoppers in an area with a lower-than-average household income. According to Rachael, a recent comparison of pak choi prices gave AMCG the advantage over a supermarket.
It's not just local cooks who are buying. Clients include Hopkinson's Gallery and Michelin two-star chef Sat Bains, who buys edible vegetable flowers.
The gardens are supported by the Big Lottery Fund until 2016 but the eye is always on long-term revenue. As well as selling produce, letting parts of the eco-building offers income and a successful application to the Lloyds Bank Community Fund will help.
Rachael is convinced the gardens have made their case for enduring support.
"The people of The Meadows are becoming quite well educated about organic, low-cost food and its origins" she says. "That is one of the outcomes we have always wanted – they need to know about growing as well as eating."
For more information, including details of special events and how to volunteer, visit www.amcgardens.co.uk