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Feature imageThe true cost of growing your own

The price of food is going up and more people are growing their own fruit and veg but how do the costs really compare? Gerard Baker has a large fruit and vegetable garden that enables his family to be nearly self-sufficient and here he looks at what it costs him

Buying versus growing


Onions

Courgettes and beans can be produced in abundance yet at the supermarket you will pay a premium and many are imported


Onions

Apart from a simple greeting, almost inevitably the first question friends ask is ‘How’s your garden?’

During daylight hours, it is usually where I am to be found.

Gardens are elastic I tell them – they will absorb as much time as you can give.

As a family we are pretty much self-sufficient for most of our vegetables, although we could not grow enough of the things we use a lot, such as potatoes. And who could not always eat more asparagus and artichokes?

But it would be a mistake to fill the entire garden with these plants, whose cropping period is short-lived.
The friends I mentioned are almost all under 40 and almost all with children. Their interest is not purely altruistic – they are interested because they want to cook and eat better. The cost of living plus the garden and cooking shows on television have pushed the idea of growing food right into the public agenda.

The choice for those without a garden is an allotment and many sites are now thriving – there are even waiting lists in the most popular areas.

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