Growing your own

Soaring food prices have meant that many families are cutting down on non-essentials, but instead of staying home and worrying, visitors headed down to the Southport Flower Show last month for a credit-crunching day that demonstrated ways of saving a small fortune.

Grow your own experts, including David Bellamy, was on hand to show families how to grow their own food, whatever their size of plot - from a small window box to allotments.

Families are spending an average of £27 a week more on groceries than this time last year, so we understand that people

Shop bought vegetables can cost 10 times more than own grown (this includes seeds, fertilizers, canes etc) – many families are turning to growing their own to help combat the credit crunch:

- For £1 you can plant 100 lettuce seeds!
- Prairie Fire Chillies: one bushy plant will give you a non-stop summer crop of hundreds of mini, atomically hot peppers - 30 seeds for £1.99
- Two courgette plants could provide you with up to 60 courgettes from June until October - cost of seeds 50p

• Saving money is not the only motive for growing your own - it is just a bonus from a hobby which provides a special thrill from growing and then eating your own.

• Health Benefits: 'allotmenteering' is a great stress-buster, helping you both mentally and physically. It is more productive and cheaper than the gym! You have the benefit of knowing exactly what you are eating and feeding to your family: no additives or chemicals, if growing organically the cost saving are even greater.

• Many PCTs and GPs are encouraging their patients to take up growing their own for stress relief and the social interaction it brings improves community spirit.

• Environmental; growing your own is greener and kinder to the environment: food travels metres not miles.

• Educational; teaches children about life, it is amazing that a tiny seed can grow into something 6 foot high in a matter of months. They know where food comes from and are keen to eat what they have grown.

• Taste: there is nothing better than growing and eating your own produce. For many vegetables, the natural sugars will start turning to starch within minutes of it being cut, a process that will rob, for example courgettes or sweet corn, of much of their beautiful sweet flavour. If you grow your own you can pick it fresh when you want it and enjoy a better taste.

• Greater varieties Almost 1,000 different varieties of vegetable can be grown in this country. Most vegetable seed catalogues contain a huge variety of each type of vegetable:

- 50 varieties of lettuce
- 15 varieties of radish
- 50+ varieties of potato
- 20+ varieties of chillies

Related Articles:

• 22 Jan 2010 - London's primary school kids encouraged to grow their own food