It’s not too late to Grow Your Own!

By Stepanie Summerell

Growing your own is not only satisfying, but does a huge amount towards looking after our world.

Modern food production has been transformed more in the last two generations than in the previous 12,000 years and has moved from sustainably based, locally focussed production to an industrialised system that relies on fossil fuel. Almost every aspect of our modern food production creates greenhouse gas emissions, whether in the production and distribution of agrochemicals, the mechanised process of tilling, sowing and harvesting, the preparation and packaging of the produce for sale, or in its storage and transportation, sometimes from thousands of miles away. In Britain we import more than 60% of all that we eat. Take green beans: as many beans as we grow here come from Kenya – and a Kenyan bean has used at least 12 times more energy than one grown locally at the right time of year. And, as they can be up to 10 days old, much of the nutrient value and taste has disappeared.

Growing your own cuts this all out at one fell swoop. You don’t need a lot of space and you don’t have to be an expert. Many vegetables can be grown in pots, although you’ll have to keep them well watered. Give it a go – there are lots of books, TV programmes and websites devoted to showing you how.

My advice is simply to grow what you like eating and to start with just a few different things. Unless you don’t eat it at all, lettuce or salad leaves are a must – they are one of the quickest crops to grow and are generally trouble free so long as you keep them watered and keep the snails and slugs away - and their commercial equivalents have been sprayed up to 15 times in their short 12 week life – yuk! Sow seed in pots of compost and keep them damp. When the seedlings are large enough to handle, plant them on at the required spacing into larger pots, window boxes, grow bags or in open soil that has been prepared well. Sow seed at frequent intervals to ensure an ongoing supply.