Getting Green in the Garden

As fuel prices soar and the cost of food inevitably follows, Britain is witnessing a revolution in the garden.

With whole generations brought up with mass market shopping as the norm, we bought anything the heart desired. Green beans all year round, exotic fruits from all corners of the globe and unusual vegetables that simply tickled the palate.

The rise of the supermarket and the ensuing price wars on everyday goods, from canned tomatoes to fresh food, made it cheaper and more efficient for us to simply buy our food and as a result ‘growing your own’ underwent a dip in popularity. Only the hardcore gardeners stayed with the programme, out in all manner of weather, digging, mulching and manureing.

However as we see the credit crunch bite, as well as environmental issues press on our consumer choices, DIY food is starting to wage a war against the supermarkets. With vegetable seed sales up 60% on last spring it seems that as a nation we’re rolling up our sleeves and getting stuck in once more.

Not only does growing your own make financial sense, by creating crops that can be harvested month after month, but knowing where your food comes from and how it has been treated is another plus. The cost and carbon footprint of your own grown carrot is virtually zilch – if you buy your seeds online, recycle food waste into compost and harvest rainwater, you really can’t go wrong.

However, gardening does take time and a certain amount of knowledge – for a really efficient turnover it takes time to establish what grows easily in your area so that you can reap the best results with the least amount of effort. Any gardener worth their salt will also have a brilliant schedule for their plot. By choosing hardy as well as seasonal produce and sowing the same crop in successive intervals, you ensure that the plot is producing right the way round the year. Plus, you can't always rely on the British weather. The summer of 2007 delivered a big blow to amateur as well as professional producers; if the excessive rainfall didn’t actually wash your whole plot away, then your crops were certain to pick up the infamous ‘blight’.

With this resurgence in interest allotments have become hot property with ever growing waiting lists – however, it’s not necessary to have an actual ‘plot’ of land to grow your own, a small, sunny patio will do. Lots of vegetables are just as happy in pots as they are in plots, and can even prosper due to the protection a paved area offers from the gardeners archenemy, the slug. Tomatoes and courgettes do brilliantly in grow bags, whilst potatoes and lettuce will happily grow in pots, and herbs are an absolute must even if you only have a window box.

If you do have an entire plot to take advantage of, crops such as purple sprouting broccoli offer high yields, whilst runner beans virtually look after themselves, garlic and parsnips positively adore frosts and rocket does exactly what it says on the tin.

For more information: www.rhs.org.uk