Why? Because it’s lovely to be more self-sufficient.

FUN FACT

Cucumbers, courgettes, tomatoes and peppers are all technically FRUITS. (Fruits contain seeds and grow from the flower of a plant. Who knew!)

And everyone’s at it. It seems practically the entire nation has taken to their gardens (or pots), planting veggies with enthusiasm and aplomb. Isn’t that just brilliant?

So much of what has gone wrong with the world is that we’ve lost our connection to nature and any sense of where our food really comes from, what it takes to grow something and how miraculous a seed is. Obtaining food has been reduced to a supermarket dash, grabbing produce-in-plastic, often non-seasonal and even flown in.

Now’s our chance to reconnect and change that, and it feels good! Out in the garden, in the sun, all of us growing our own, cherishing it and never wasting a pea again.

So, how do we?

We know many of you are seasoned gardeners so this is for the tentative beginners or curious novices like us!

Our green-fingered subscribers, Lorni and Katy, gave us their top tip to calm our nerves. Lorni: “Don’t believe the hype...as long as they have sun, water and soil most things will grow - it’s not a science the way baking a cake is.”
Katy: “It’s a doddle'“

And so with (possibly misplaced) cavalier confidence we’re off! Let’s make it easy and grow ourselves a salad.

o Carrots

All of these can be grown in pots or growbags too, so no matter how little space we have we can all muck in. They can all be sown from seed straight outdoors, with the exception of tomatoes which need some tender indoor care first. You can also get seedlings from nurseries. And we’re on time for planting - all of them good from May onward. We’ve included links to the RHS know-how on each, so you can get the full scoop on what they need to flourish, but don’t let that make it feel complicated, it isn’t!

General tips for awesome success:

Grow what you love to eat. Choose about 4 or so to start with.
Follow the instructions on the seed packets.
Most veggies like sun, you’ll need a spot that gets full sun for at least half the day.
Whether you’re using pots, a border or a raised bed, you’ll need a good quality, organic compost to mix in. Make sure it’s peat free - using this precious organic matter is terribly destructive to the environment (more on that in a separate action)
If you’re planting in beds, plan it - see what you’ve got room for. Courgettes need quite a bit of space for example and nobody likes being over-crowded. You also want to plant the taller veg at the north end so they don’t block out the sun for the rest.
That’s it!

Have your gardening tip to share? Tell us, we need all the help we can get! Just post it in the box below. And…is there something you’re proud of, big or small (refills sorted, herbs doing well…) Email us, so we can feature you on our Weekly Shout Out!

We…

Aimee: I grew up watching the Good Life and always related to Margo’s sneering! But here I am, post epiphany on climate emergency, standing in front of a pack of seeds...asking them to grow!! Thanks to Lorni and Katy I’m feeling brave. I’m starting with courgettes - apparently NO-ONE can go wrong with them and they grow so easily...we’ll see!

Sonia: Last year for the first time I grew my own tomatoes. Honestly, it was the best thing EVER. This year, emboldened, I’m clearing the space in the back alley for a raised bed. Never done this before or grown ANYTHING from seed. Excited and nervous. Lettuce here I come!

“Tomato? Tomatoe? Potato? Potatoe?”

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Photo: Dan Gold