Is It Time To Beat Rising Food Prices By Growing Your Own?

14th September 2013

With prices rising ever upwards in the past few years perhaps the time has come for everyone to grow more fruit and vegetables to ease the household budget.

Wartime in the UK saw many people take up vegetable gardening but as times went by and family incomes rose less and less was grown at home. Allotments fell into disuse but with rising costs and family budgets being squeezed many more place are looking to open their allotment areas once again or create new ones. Highland Council is backing a number of new schemes to increase the availability of ground for growing vegetables and soft fruits.

The video we are highlighting shows the war time ideas to get people back into gardening for the war effort. Perhaps today it wil help family budgets if more of us give this way of feeding the family a go.

there are thousands of web sites online now with useful hints and tips for anyone starting out. It does not need much to get started if you have access to a garden. Most have grass nowadays but it can easily be turned into a vegetable garden with a little effort. All you need is spade and your can start. Seeds can be expensive but many can be stored if you do not need all of them in one year. Just keep them dry in a tin until the following year. Storage time vary according to the type of seed but it can save money if you do not need to buy them every year.

A surprising range of vegetables will grow even in our far north Caithness climate. Bulk crops like potato, turnip onions and carrots all do well. Most of the cabbage family also grow well although some protection against root fly is usually needeed.

Soft fruits such as strawberries, raspberries and currants can have bumper crops in the far north and make great jams as well as a few weeks of lovely fresh dishes after main meals.

You can begin to get your plot ready for planting next spring any time now. Get some heavy digging done over the winter - a little each week is preferable to one hard slog all at once. If your ground has been used to grow vegetable in the past the chances are it will be quite easy to bring back into cultivation.

The photo shows some of the seed potatoes Bill Fernie had in chitting trays prior to planting in april 2013. The crop has been coming in for the past few weeks with fresh Charlotte potatoes an early variety being used in salads and other meals. Also cropping well are King Edwards with supplies likely to last for two or three months yet.

The Caithness.org Gardeners forum is there for discussion and questions or just a brose through the many items already there form previous years. See it at -
http://forum.caithness.org/forumdisplay.php?47-Gardening

Here is link to one guide to getting started -
http://goo.gl/08aTFh