SHOPPERS are being urged to grab their gardening gloves and help plant 1,000 fruit and vegetable plants at intu Merry Hill this weekend.

The Great Big Community Dig has been organised in partnership with the National Lottery Fund and forms part of West Midlands Mayor Andy Street’s Community Weekend.

Staff at the Brierley Hill shopping centre will be inviting people to put their green fingers to good work between 10am and 5pm on Saturday and 11am to 4pm on Sunday at the event area next to M&S.

After the planting party is over, the beds will be whisked off to community centres, schools and charities across the Black Country.

Naomi Campbell, the centre's community development manager, said: “The Mayor’s Community weekend is a brilliant chance for the whole community to come together, not only when we all team up to get the seeds planted, but over the course of the year as the different sites across the Black Country nurture the seedlings and are eventually rewarded with fresh, home grown produce to eat and enjoy."