Growing your own vegetables
Providing your own vegetables can have a wonderful effect on your own life, as well as the environment. Rather than being dependent on the supermarkets for your food, it is easier than you think to grow things for yourself in even a relatively small garden, and you can guarantee that they will be pure, organic food for you and your family. In addition, they won't have been transported vast distances either (unless you have a REALLY big garden...) and so the carbon footprint caused by your evening meal is dramatically reduced.
Build a wormery
In order to grow outside, you need to make sure that you are planting in soil that is rich in nutrients, so investing in a wormery would be a great start in making sure that you are able to provide all the nutrients that your vegetables will need.
Companion planting
In addition, you should also investigate symbiotic planting, or companion planting. This is an approach to planting that ensures the residents of your garden are working together for the best results. This can be because one plant helps increase the amount of nutrients a nearby plant can absorb, or it could be because one plant attracts pollinating insects that help other plants to pollinate. Alternatively, a plant can attract predators that can see off harmful creatures that might otherwise damage your crop.
What works in one garden may not work in another though, so a degree of experimentation is always required, but as a quick example, tomatoes can be ravaged by red spiders, but these can be repelled by borage, a herb. Learning what plants work well together can really help you to increase the size of your crops, and means you save even more money that you would otherwise have spent in the supermarkets.
Building a polytunnel
One fabulous way to encourage the growth of a healthy crop of vegetables is to invest in the construction of a poytunnel. A polytunnel is a semi-circular tunnel built from hardwearing polythene and metal support rods.
A polytunnel acts like a super-efficient greenhouse, but does even more to aid growth. It diffuses the light, which means plants are less likely to lose out on valuable light because of taller neighbours, and the air is kept warmer and at a consistent temperature to prolong your growing season and allow more exotic fruits and vegetables to thrive.
Our own polytunnel helps provide enough fruit and vegetables for four families, and we are able to grow all year round, whatever the weather. If you have the room in your garden to construct one, the benefits can be immense - we heartily recommend it! Visit our growing our own food page to find out more to find out a few more of our tips for growing your own food, or use the contact us page if you want to ask a more specific question!