You can't afford not to 'grow your own'

Well with the current expense of food in general and with people becoming more aware of food production and the potential chemical exposure that our food is subjected to , it is no surprise that many people are turning to ‘grow your own’.  This also relates to me, someone who works full time and volunteers for a local children’s group, thought I would have the time required (and energy) to grow my own.

So my garden is not big, so my veggie patch would be similarly small, but I thought see how I get on, and maybe it can expand as years go by. So, forever the consumer, I headed to my local national DIY superstore for some seeds, some organic compost (may as well go organic at the same time!) and some sleepers.

How hard can grow your own be, if it can be done by Old Man Fowler on his allotment, surely me, the earth mother, can grow few spuds and beans.

So, to set about prepping the ground. To grow your own, you need a decent plot with decent soil, hence the sleepers, if I raise the bed and fill with good quality compost, surely that is a good starting place? So I admit, I did get the man of the house to bang in the corner posts and secure the sleepers in place that was most definitely a man job, along with breaking up the soil.

Right, so my grow your own patch was taking shape, it was all looking good in raised beds, filled with yummy organic compost, this had to work! Next I spent a back breaking day planting seeds in pots and distributing them around the house on various windowsills to take advantage of the sun. The next few weeks were an agonising wait whilst I waited for the seedlings to grow big enough that I could plant them out into my plot.

So the time came when the seedlings were strong enough to go outside and was the plot ready to take them? Was it ever, I think every cat in the neighbourhood had thought.... oh litter tray!!  So prior to lovingly replanting the seedlings, I had to sift through the plot looking for kitty presents, I certainly did not fancy my carrots growing through a cat poo thank you very much!

So eventually my grow your own seedlings were planted, and I sat and waited. And watched. And picked off slugs on a regular basis. And then ended up going back to the supermarket to buy my veg. My attempt at grow your own fed the slugs and birds, gave the cats somewhere to defecate and gave me a bad back, but produced not one usable end product.

But on the flip side, I had fun, it got me to enjoy my garden in a way that I had not done in the past, so whilst ‘grow your own’ didn’t mean I could shun mass produced veg, it certainly gave me a new respect for my garden.