I’m sadly going to have to keep this post brief as well as I
have a deadline this week which is taking up all of my time.
I have already touched on the environmental costs it takes
to be able to put food on the table, with transport and land clearance etc. I
thought it might be a good time to remind everyone that you can always grow
your own. The average family only needs half an acre of fertile land to be
self-sufficient if they do it properly. However that also requires a lot of
time and effort which the majority of people don’t have freely available, so there
are a few ideas of plants which are tough, easy to grow and taste great.
Potatoes would be one of the first plants I suggest you
grow, I mean if Matt Damon can grow them on Mars how hard can it be? But seriously potatoes are a good crop to
start with, which you can do so much with and a great healthy source of
nutrition. To plant potatoes all you need is some space or a large bag of soil,
try to remove most of the larger stones and place a potato which has developed
eyes on it about 15cm below the surface. You should try to water them as
regularly as possible and the muddier the better when it comes to potatoes, but
you can easily get away with watering them twice a week if you can’t find the
time. The final good thing about potatoes is that if you grow a large amount
you only need to keep them in a cool dark place and this will keep them fresh
for a long time.
Another easy type of plant to grow would be either runner
beans or broad beans; these can even be grown in compost bags. All you
have to
do is lay the bag on its side then cut a few holes in it and place some form of
structure there which the plant stem can grow up. Again these are hardy plants
that don’t necessarily need watering every day and a couple of times a week
would be suitable. 
The final easy plant to grow I would suggest is lettuce,
they can be grown in small plant pots even on a kitchen window sill if you don’t
have the space outside. They are great to have around as you can just picking a
few leaves of at a time to put in your sandwiches or a salad.
Growing your own veg is a fun and an activity you can
sharing with your children for instance, and you gain a real sense of
achievement when you sit down to a meal eating something you’ve grown in your
own back garden or window ledge, and anything you grow will not have create any
pollutants to get to your table.
Hope you have a good time growing.
Thanks for reading!
Check out this video!
