No Better Time to Grow Your Own

In these very troubling times, using an online supplier, try to order some seed potatoes, onion sets, a packet of peas or beans and a couple of packets of easy grow seeds like lettuce and spinach. Seeds can often be picked up in supermarkets so are easy to get during an essential weekly shop.

Not only will planting seeds and bulbs give you something to do during a period of time when we are not be able to get out and about so much, it is so good for your mental health to be able to care for and nurture something living.

The other massive benefit of course is that in as little as a few weeks for pea shoots and baby leaves, you will have something fresh and organic to eat and from around 12 weeks on, you could be cropping your own first early potatoes, followed a little later by bean and pea pods and then onions.

If you are lucky enough to have your own private garden, planting vegetable and salad crops out in the garden will allow you to breathe in some fresh air and to get some physical exercise. If you share a communal garden, talk to your neighbours about planting some crops to share and ask them to keep their distance from you if you are out tending to these crops. If you don’t have a garden but have a balcony or window box, there are many crops which will flourish there too. If you don’t have any access to a garden, you can still sow peas, salads, onions and garlic on pots on the windowsill to harvest baby crops or micro greens bursting with goodness!

You do not need any fancy equipment to start growing your own food and there are lots of videos and tips on The Pink Wheelbarrow’s Facebook page to help you get started successfully.

This is a great time to start growing and sowing if you never have done so before for your own physical and mental health; for your general well-being and to take a little pressure off the food supply over the next few months. It may be a lockdown activity for now but it will be a lifelong skill you will be learning.