Grow Your Own Vegetables

       

During the World Wars, people in Britain and America were actively encouraged to grow their own fruit and vegetables as part of the war effort. With food being rationed to ensure that it didn't run out, the tending of an allotment or vegetable plot became a daily outdoor activity. This also allowed the government to save money by concentrating its efforts on supplying the troops. Since then, growing your own fruit and vegetables had fallen into decline, until it was recently revived by the attention being paid to being environmentally friendly.

So, why should you bother with growing your own vegetables? The main benefits are:

• The vegetables are fresher than from the shops and taste better
• It is convenient - just dig up your vegetables when you need them
• It is healthy by giving you exercise being active outdoors
• It is significantly cheaper than buying fruit and vegetables from a shop

There are a wide range of fruit and vegetable that you can grow yourself. The BBC Gardening website has a wonderful section on how to grow your own fruit and vegetables.BBC Gardening Grow Your Own Fruit and Vegetables

If you don't have space in your own garden, you can ask to use part of a relative's or friend's garden. Alternatively you could rent an allotment. Details about allotments can be found at http://www.allotment.org.uk. Some schools have set up their own gardens for each class to maintain. This is a fantastic way to get youth interested in gardening, as well as getting them active outdoors. Some grow flowers, whilst other grow an amazing array of fruit and vegatables.

People often want to know what fruit and vegetables to grow month by month. The RHS has a website that tells you all about growing vegetables including a month by month guide as to what veg to plant and what you can harvest. The Grow Your Own Veg site coincides with the BBC and RHS TV series Grow your own VEG and a book of the same name.

What vegetables to plant when month by month

If you want to know what vegetables to plant now, or in what month to plant vegetables, this list indicates when to plant your vegetables. The brown cells show when to plant your vegetables. The green cells show when to harvest your vegetables.

Fruit

There is plenty of fruit your can grow in your garden. You can begin growing these from seed, but these are best started by buying young plants.

• Apples
• Blackberries
• Blackcurrants
• Cherries
• Gooseberries
• Grapes
• Nectarines
• Peaches
• Pears
• Plums
• Raspberries
• Redcurrants

There are also plenty of herbs that you can plant indoors or outdoors and harvest all year round.

If you want a detailed step by step guide with instructions on how to grow each type of vegetable, visit www.gardenaction.co.uk

So, why not start digging now, and grow your own vegetables. You can have a competition with your mates to see who can grow the biggest veg. You could perhaps grow your own pumpkin ready for Halloween.

For more ideas on growing things in your garden, visit our page on Gardening Fun.

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