Growing your own food

We all love our gardens or would love to have one. There's nothing better than being sat in your summer house and admiring our work.

There is, however, a growing movement towards grow food from a very urban setting in the UK. From growing carrots to courgettes, tomatoes or even squashes, the function of our gardens is changing.

There are many benefits from growing your own food. For one it will reduce your weekly shopping bill, but will also cut your carbon footprint. No to mention the health benefits from all the outdoor exercise you'll get.

Last week, the Metro reported on a community scheme in the small town of Todmorden in West Yorkshire. The scheme has involved using public land to grow food, which is freely available to the public. Volunteers tend to the many trees and vegetable patches throughout the town.

You won't need a whole town to get started, you don't even need a large garden. You can grow food in a mini greenhouse, planter or window box on your balcony, patio or window sill. Plus there are a whole host of how-to sites and books that will help you if you've never grown anything in your life.

If you have space, you can easily put up low fence panels or a garden trellis to divide your entertaining space from your vegetable patch.

Don't forget to be water wise, we've had two successive dry winters:

  • Use grey water where possible (Don't worry household detergents don’t damage plants but do avoid bleach)
  • Collect water in a water butt, you could add guttering to your garden shed, greenhouse or collect directly from your roof.
  • Water roots and around the stem, early morning or in the evening, so as t reduce evaporation.

Happy gardening.

Resources for home vegetable & fruit growing:

Take a look at some more of our grow your own tips