Growing your own food in a big city

Following on from the great response we had to the article a few weeks back about food price escalation we had many people ask us if it was possible to grow your own food in a big city or in a small back yard/garden. Many people are waking up to the idea that they can grow their own food.

The very clear answer is yes but the question is then what to grow?

Interms growing your own food don’t discount a couple of chickens (avoid cockerels due to the early morning noise issue) – and before you ask no you don’t need to eat the hens – just the eggs. A friend of mine recently rescued some hens and has them doing really well in his garden – and much of his space is on a 45 Degree slope.  The taste and freshness of eggs from your own chickens is quite out of this world and they are great served many ways.

If you want to find out about rehoming hens then Susie MacMillan at the Sussex free range organic chicken farm is a great place to start and hens are often availabel for a few pounds and they can live for years. Also try The Smallest Smallholding as they have great advice and are very friendly.

Not everyone wants to have the bother of looking after hens so the most common thing is to start growing vegetables or fruit.

Growing your Own Food – Herbs on the Windowsill

The easiest way to get started is to grow some herbs on your  window sill in the kitchen, or any room that has good light. You can order seeds fro many places online – just Google vegetable seeds – I prefer Dobies as they major on mail order and I’ve never had anything but good plants . Then there are small ready grown plants in what are known as ‘plugs’. These are just a few weeks old and are ready for potting on into a larger pot and make the growing much easier – they only cost a few pounds for 10 or 20 plants and many places are quite happy for you to mix and match so you don’t have too many of one type.

Growing Your Own Food – Outside

Individual Pots

The next step up in terms of growing your own food would be to plant these same plants out in larger pots in compost and place them outside in a spot that gets good sunlight – but remember too much sun can dry plants out and kill them. So a good spot might be somewhere that is easily seen but not in direct sunlight  all day.  It is also worth noting at this stage that slugs and snails will find your plants and we need to think of some way of protecting them – slug pellets are not great as they are mostly chemical based and today there are many options with copper bands that ward off both. There are also biological controls but more on that later. Please notice that these pots are often recycled containers that just need cleaning out.

Growing Your Own Food – Existing Flower beds

Going one stage further in growing your own food might be planting a few seeds/small plug plants in either a small border or a raised bed. This can be long and thin or in fact any shape you like so that it fits in your available space. I favour raised beds because they are easier to keep weed free and you don’t have to walk on them. You can make raised beds from purpose made kits available online or at local garden centres or be a little more adventurous and make them from scarp pallets or scarps of wood you can often find being thrown away. Pressure treated decking boards are great solution as they will not rot so quickly and should last many years. One of the best things to do is to plan your garden around grwoing your own food and this short video is very helpful.

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Growing your own food – Hydroponics

If you fancy a low tech but very clever solution there are many DIY hydroponic growing ideas and they can be hugely productive in even small areas. It is quite possible to grow fruit and vegetables in  hydroponics even in a basement without light. Many commercial farmers now use hydroponics to ensure highest quality crops and there are many shops online that sell to the DIY grower.

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Growing Your Own Food  – Don’t forget allotments

Allotments are gaining great favour at the moment and in some areas more land is being released for new ones. The best place to start looking is the Government’s community site.

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Greener Gardening

I hate to admit it but the Government site is one of the best places to start.

So growing your own food need not be difficult and as an avid gardener it is actually great fun.

Author: Steven Chasen

Here at Eco Hip we have a simple philosophyTo offer you the best natural products around, so that you can maintain a chemical-free home, body and spirit.For 15 years we have been striving to give people the opportunity to enjoy and benefit from this lifestyle, using our knowledge and experience to guide you through the process from start to finish. We believe that there is a complete synergy between what is best for you and what is best for the environment.Do you ever stop and think about what goes into the products that we use on a daily basis?Did you know that everyday products such as toiletries and cosmetics are filled with harmful petro-chemicals, parabens, GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms), DEAs, MEAs, TEAs, artificial colours, fragrances and fillers. The list goes on…Why aren’t there stricter regulations concerning these products?Are the waste products of industry being dumped and sold in our personal care and cleaning products?Who is stopping this and telling it how it is?We feel that we have a responsibility to both our customers and to the world around us to ask ourselves these questions every day. That is why we only sell the most responsible and sustainable products.Responsibility to ourselves – All our products are free of toxic chemicals wherever possible and endorsed by Ecocert and the Soil Association.Responsibility to others – We promote Fairtrade produce to stop exploitation and benefit those communities.Responsibility to local communities – We use local suppliers and products wherever possible in order to support the local economy and reduce our carbon footprintResponsibility to the environment – All our products use minimal packaging and recyclable materials. Responsibility to the future – We use sustainable materials and ingredients wherever possible.Responsibility to animals – We do not use any products that have animal ingredients or are tested on animals. Our products are certified as cruelty-free and are endorsed by BUAV and PETA.There doesn’t have to be a trade off between affordability and healthy living either. The choices we make now will impact our future, and we want to ensure that the investments you make now will save you money in the long-term.Sustainability doesn’t just have to connote the environment, but your own household too.In the age of information overload that we live in, we know that shopping online can sometimes be overwhelming, so we carefully source our products, selecting only the highest quality ingredients and most innovative designs, so that you don’t have to.Ecohip is more than just another online shopping website. The Ecohip mindset is all about challenging conventional thinking and finding a new way of looking at the world, believing that smalls steps can gradually add up to make a big difference. View all posts by Steven Chasen