An amnesty on old shovels, garden shears and trowels has been set up at a Morden garden centre to help schoolchildren and community groups grow their own fruit and vegetables.

Staff at the Lower Morden Garden Centre are collecting old and even broken garden tools so that they can be given a new lease of life by prisoners.

The inmates, taking part in the Tools Shed project, repair and sharpen the equipment before it is distributed to community groups and schools that have set-up their own fruit and vegetable gardens in the area.

The amnesty runs until the end of the month. Customers who drop off their unwanted tools at the garden centre in Lower Morden Lane will be given a 20 per cent off voucher to buy replacement items.

James Dowsing-Reynolds, manager of the garden centre, said: “It’s the third year we have run an appeal like this.

“The initiative applies to tools such as trowels, spades, hand and garden forks, hoes, good old-fashioned garden rakes and lawn rakes, but not power tools, which are those powered by electricity or are petrol-driven.”

The project is part of a national initiative led by the Conservation Foundation that send tools to be prepared at UK prisons including HMP Wandsworth and HMP High Down in Banstead.

Director of the Conservation Foundation, David Shreeve, said: “We’re delighted that we’ve been able to link up with Lower Morden Garden Centre for the second year running.”