Since moving into my own home and not having to negotiate the student lifestyle inside my home I have started to grow my own vegetables.
I began this ill fated adventure in August and fully expected them to not even begin growing as even though I was growing basil, tomatoes and peppers indoors even I know that they were out of season. However, one of the draws was that as they are out of season they were ridiculously cheap with three little pots of soil and seeds coming in at under £1.50.
So starting life as the underdog they ended up becoming an endearing part of my life as I was fascinated from their little first shoots to their now fully grown plants.
Before I started this gardening adventure I spoke to Penny Golightly, the bargain hunting journalist, as part of a university project. She saves some pennies by growing what would be expensive vegetables in the supermarket, like chili, peppers and fancy herbs in her own backyard.
Penny says: “It allows you to grow gourmet ingredients for a few pence, instead of paying a premium for supermarket packs which go off before you can finish them. So it is fresher, cheaper, no transportation/food miles and there’s less waste.”
You can tell that the onset of the autumnal weather is starting to upset them because of the lack of sunlight and their cramped conditions so over the weekend there was operation recover the plants where I gave them new pots and a splash of tomato feed and since then they have been looking healthier.
The only problem with becoming emotionally attached to my little plants is I want them to do do well and then have the reward of being used in my cooking. So if they die then the whole opportunity has been wasted.
Penny does have a few words of encouragement for people beginning to grow their own: ” My top tip is use sterile compost (don’t bring creepy crawlies into your house from the outdoors by using topsoil).
“Also, don’t overwater and make sure there’s drainage from your pots. A south-facing window is like a mini-greenhouse, so grow heat-loving plants, but a north-facing one is better suited to cool and shade-loving plants, like lettuce, baby chard or spinach, and mints.”
So if this works out well then maybe I will become a little more ambitious than a few pot plants.
