Supply Local - Homegrown, too much hassle?

It’s no surprise that I am a fan of locally grown produce, it’s why I’m here, but the realistic fact for our eating habits and busy lives is that it is not always possible to pop to the local shops to get these fantastic products. Instead I do sometimes find myself wondering the isles of Tesco, muttering profanities at the fact that the meat looks terribly bland and the vegetables bloated and tasteless. Begrudgingly though, I do it.

Why? Out of convenience.

Where else can I stop off at 8 at night to pick up shopping? Unfortunately nowhere that sells locally sourced and grown food. It was in one of my late night trips to a supermarket that I decided that I wanted to be able to get more from my garden, so I started to plot.

Now, I live in a small village just outside Cambridge, I have a fairly small garden but a garden none the less. It’s also quite a sun trap which would be ideal for my crops. I planted around the beginning of April for most of my plants, which was a little late for some things, but for me this will be fine. My choice of fruit and vegetables was done by, not only what I think we will use, but also which plants are easily manageable with little time. I have a combination of pots, grow bags, planters and beds around the garden now all full with varying maturity of plants. In the end I chose: Potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, leeks, spring onions, cucumber, courgette, garlic, celeriac, 7 types of chillies, 3 types of strawberry, raspberries, gooseberries, beetroot, pak choi, thyme, oregano, basil, coriander, rocket, spinach, land cress and mixed salad leaves. As you can see, I started out with just a few plants but when people found out I was starting to grow my own produce, I started getting gifts too! (I was not complaining!) I’ve just been given a bay tree, for example, from my mother. My girlfriend has just bought me and orange and a lemon tree.

Yes, that’s right! I’ve been given a rosemary bush and I am just waiting on a fig tree cutting from a friend of a friend. It’s bountiful, I can tell you. I know I have got a little carried away with it all, but it’s still all on a small scale with not an allotment in site. My aim was for this to be manageable by any Joe public that, just like me, appreciates good local produce with the convenience of it being outside your house. The learning has been fantastic, picking things up as I go along about each different plant and although I’m nowhere near harvest point, I have been enjoying the fruits of my labour through the flourishing rocket and herbs that are already gracing my garden. All I can say is, if you’re put off by the amount of time and effort taken to start to grow some produce of your own, then don’t be. You can do as much or as little as your time allows, and other than watering and the odd weeding session, our garden doesn’t require a lot of attention.

I started out with the herbs from supermarkets, which then got too big and ended up outside. I then found myself popping to the local garden centre at lunch to pick up bits and pieces but found this can be expensive. For great value I actually found Wilkinsons online has a great selection from propagators to pots to compost. All they will send to you for a small 5 delivery cost. A great place to start but at this time of year anyone considering planting, I would use the part grown plants that you can pick up at any garden centre. You can pick up a strawberry plant at B&Q for 99p!For the small effort it takes, the feeling and moreover the taste that you get from your own garden makes any effort put in worthwhile. While you wait for them all to fruit there is the great task of deciding what you will do with it all and whether you need a bigger freezer!

I have found this is a slippery slope for me though. I’ve bought a book on smoking and now I am required (the girlfriend doesn’t think so!) to build a smoker in the garden so I can start to have a play. Stay tuned for more smokey fun.