Grow Your Own Food

Whether you’re hoping to have your own allotment, a food garden in your backyard or simply want to try growing microgreens (eg. herbs or pea shoots) on your windowsill, there are lots of benefits of growing your own food:

You will have fresher tasting and more nutritious food
It helps contribute towards tackling the climate emergency
Growing your own food can save money on your shopping bill
It can improve your physical and mental health
It helps to reduce food waste

What will I need?

You don’t need a big garden to grow fruit and vegetables, even if you live in a flat or apartment, you can still get involved! Start with something easy that grows quickly like salad leaves or leafy greens.

Food can be grown:

On patios
In raised beds
In greenhouses
On balconies
In flower beds
On windowsills

There’s no need to spend money on fancy pots and planters, plenty of household items can be recycled into a container, you could use a cleaned out old mop bucket! Just remember to add in some drainage holes, this will help stop your plants from drowning or developing rot. As long as you have sunlight, something to hold the soil, and access to water, you can grow your own food.

What if I’m short of space?

There are various easy to grow fruit and vegetables that don’t take up much space and can easily be grown on patios and balconies including:

Strawberries
Onions
Beans
Peppers
Lettuce
Carrots

What about a window box in the house?

There are lots of plants that are small enough to grow successfully in a window box including:

Herbs (especially coriander, basil, mint and cress)
Lettuce
Chillies
Spinach

Start with something you love

Take a look at this list of easy to grow vegetables and ask yourself – what would I like to eat the most?

Tomatoes
Beetroot
Salad leaves
Courgette
Chillies
Kale
Cabbage
Potatoes
Swiss chard

Keep your soil nice and loose

If you’re using a planter (eg a plant pot) make sure you keep your soil nice and loose for planting, your plants will be doing a lot of growing, so make sure they can move about easily.

All plants need water, just like us. Make sure you keep your crops watered, especially if outside in dry weather and after planting/sowing.