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Grow your own fruit and veg

Grow your own fruit and veg

Gardening image Fenwick Close
Gardening image Fenwick Close

Lots of our homes have large gardens.  These are ideal for growing your own food.  Find out more about what to grow and when from the Royal Horticultural Society. And remember - even if you don’t have a big garden, you can still grow lots of veg in growbags and containers. It’s good for your health and can reduce your carbon footprint.

Food grown at home hasn’t been produced using machinery and pesticides, it hasn’t travelled very far to get to your plate, and there’s no packaging to dispose of. Plus, gardening can reduce stress and improve your cardiovascular health whilst being a low impact exercise and helping you to relax. 

If you’d rather grow flowers, how about supporting bees and butterflies by planting some wildflower seeds? They’re easy to grow – you just scatter them over soil. You can even get hold of them for free sometimes – visit Grow Wild for more information.

Grow your own

A great way to have fresh, chemical free vegetables, herbs and fruit is to grow your own.  It's easier than you think and you don’t need to have acres of garden to produce some fabulously tasty results.  You can now buy raised beds quite cheaply that slot together and give you about a square metre growing space.  Even if you only have a balcony or paved area you can grow many things in pots easily.  It’s a great way to help you get your 5 a day and getting outdoors into the fresh air is also great for your health and the kids can get stuck in too!!

We’ve put together some easy steps that are guaranteed to bring the ‘Alan Titchmarsh’ out in you! 

 Here’s all the information you need to get started:

  • STEP 1: Decide whereabouts you are going to grow your crops,  a sunny place in the garden is great for vegetables. Most garden soil is fine for growing vegetables, and if you are planting in containers or a raised bed the ‘peat free’ compost you use will have the correct amount of nutrients.  Take a look at our guide of what to grow, when to grow it.

  • STEP 2: Think about what types of things you like to eat as there is no point in growing something you don’t like. For best results follow the sowing and growing info on the seed packet. Some fruit and veg like peas and beans need a stake to climb up. 
  • STEP 3: Sow the seeds either in small pots first to grow on for potting out later, many vegetables though are sown straight into the soil.  
  • STEP 4:  Make sure you keep the plants weed free and water regularly - especially in the summer, evening is the best for this, and feed if instructed, say for example tomatoes need extra nutrients at times. 
  • STEP 5: Sit back and watch them grow.  Harvest when ready. ENJOY!
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