My parents, at the age of 90 and despite increasing physical difficulties, are still growing some fruit and vegetables. Although they were only children in the war, this is just one of the clear habits that have remained with them for life because, as my mother says, “ if you didn’t grow your own food you didn’t eat”.
Their home is typical of the suburban building that began in the 1930s and resumed after the second world war. Semi-detached houses built so close to the next pair that only a narrow alley divided them, with small front gardens but at the back a long garden. The rear garden consisted first of the lawn and flower beds, followed by a small orchard and finally, hidden from view, the vegetable garden, which when we moved in in 1970 still had a Nissan hut at the bottom. From the bedroom window you can see identical houses on both sides and the same behind. Those behind, were barely visible when I was a child because of the fruit trees they contained. Now, I can’t see anyone else growing food at all. Since Covid, most seem to have built a home office or gym in that space. Presumably they are confident that the supplies of food in the supermarkets will continue no matter what conflicts arise within the world, although the closing of the Straits of Hormuz ought to have given them some indication of how quickly things can change.
Before the Great War began in 1917 Britain had been buying most of its food from the Empire and had virtually no back-up (there were 6 weeks of reserves for 40 million people). A national growing campaign followed in which families were taught to grow from scratch and save seed for the next year. In addition to gardens, parks were also converted to grow food.
So, when war broke out again in 1939, Lord Woolton launched the “Dig for Victory” campaign before rationing had even started. There were 1.4 million allotments by 1943 and 10% of Britain’s food supply came from home gardens. Our country’s self-sufficiency had increased to 60% from around 30% in the early 1900s.
Amazingly, Britain doesn’t actually have a policy on food production today. One was commissioned in 2019, chaired by Henry Dimbleby, and reviewed following Covid, but none of the recommendations were adopted by the Conservative government at the time, and nothing has come from Labour since they have been in power. The report that was produced by Henry Dimbleby concluded that the “just-in-time” approach that supermarkets adopt to ensure food is kept on their shelves had actually served reasonably well during Covid. Russia’s war against Ukraine was the next challenge the world’s food supply faced, with Ukraine being the major grower of wheat and also sunflowers for cooking oil. We soon saw empty spaces on supermarket shelves.
Now, Professor Tim Lang has written a report entitled “Just-in-Case: narrowing the UK civil food resilience gap”. The “just-in case” part of the title reflects his conclusion that the “just in time” approach needs to be replaced with something that will make our food supply more resilient. You can read the report here The report – Food Security and you will find 15 key actions for government. The one I am most concerned with here comes under point 10 – Engaging Civil Society. That is what you and I can do in the spirit of Lord Woolston’s war time campaign, or how we should all take some responsibility for our own food security. I entirely endorse the need to support our farmers, after all even in wartime home produce only accounted for 10% of our requirements, but there is a tremendous satisfaction to be gained from knowing that you can provide something for yourself. Of course, not everyone has a garden, I lived in a flat for some years myself, so a few herbs on the windowsill were the sum total of my production; but even that is satisfying, more tasty and of course cheaper, than buying them. Part of the Just in Case report includes a “Right to Grow” proposal, which could be used to force councils to release public land for allotments or growing. This blueprint was the brainchild of Pam Warhurst, the founder of Incredible Edible. However, from my recollection she is so inspiring that she persuaded everyone, including police and fire stations, to get growing in Incredible Edible towns that no further legal action was required! Informal, grassroots actions are my preference over cumbersome and bureaucratic rights. When you consider the number of home gardens that are underutilised there is surely plenty of scope for persuasion, for example an elderly couple like my parents, might to let you grow in their garden in exchange for a share of the produce.
I would strongly recommend that everyone does grow some of their own food, not only for our food security, but because it increases our understanding of nature, gives great satisfaction and, of course, better tasting and more nutritious food. Deciding what to grow will depend very much on what land you have available and what you like to eat. Beyond that, I would urge you to just give things a go, some plants will work better than others because they suit your land, and some may work one year but not another because of the weather. Many gardeners enthusiastically sow some seeds in the spring to harvest through the summer, and this is the easiest period in which to grow. However, if you are more serious about producing some of your own food throughout the year, it pays to plan to grow something for harvesting in every month of the year.
Winter vegetables take up ground for a far greater part of the year than those harvested in summer so space will be the limiting factor. We grow our own leeks and digging them as needed produces a smell and flavour that more then compensates for the effort. There are others that demand less space, Chard being one example, as it resprouts after cutting back allowing more than one harvest right through until the next spring. A more recent hybrid between kale and sprouts, called “flower sprouts” or “kalettes” has also given us something to eat in the depths of winter. As well as their obvious replacement for sprouts as a side vegetable, I also love them cooked with anchovies to make a sauce for pasta.
Perennials break the annual sowing and harvesting routine, so if you are staying put for some years it is sensible to invest in your future eating by planting a fruit tree or two, and some rhubarb crowns which you can alternate between forcing and growing on to the main crop. Fruit (and yes, I know that rhubarb is technically a vegetable) is the food group in which Britain is least self-sufficient, importing around 80%. Soft fruits are expensive to buy and taste so much better when grown traditionally. Once you plant your first strawberry plants you won’t need to buy more as they will put out runners after fruiting the next year. You do need to use fresh ground after five years, but we tend to achieve this by gradually moving the bed along as we plant new runners, pulling out the first after their fifth year. Compare the taste of strawberries grow in open ground compared to grow-bags (mostly imported) and you won’t want to bother buying them after your precious season has ended.
Raspberries also grow well where we live and provide enough to eat fresh every day throughout July as well as a surplus to freeze. Because they are fragile to transport, you don’t find them for sale that often, and where they are sold, they are usually very expensive, so this is a crop well worth growing. The classic Summer Pudding would be prohibitively expensive if you had to buy the raspberries in the 150g punnets in which they are normally sold. You will need to net them to protect them from birds though. With good maintenance, you can expect reliable crops for a decade or more from one planting.
Another way of cutting your workload and the cost of sowing seed every year is to save your own seed or grow plants that self-seed easily. Saving seed is easier when the seeds are large, e.g. beans or peas. You also need to make sure that the original plant was from open-pollinated seed to ensure that the plants they produce are true to the original. Saving seed is essential to the continuance of heritage varieties that are of no interest to commercial growers, and you can find a list of sellers here: Where to buy open-pollinated, agro-ecological seed – Seed Sovereignty . Look out too for seed-swop days near you which are usually held in January. The best illustration of the importance of seed saving and heritage varieties is peas. Originally peas grew tall, around supports, as you would grow climbing beans. The old heritage varieties often have beautiful flowers, so you could grow a wigwam arrangement in a flower bed. The peas are harvested by hand as they become large enough. You won’t get a huge quantity, but they are lovely eaten raw, perhaps in a pea and feta salad. You will also be able to pick the shooting tendrils for a pretty garnish. In fact, it is worth sprouting peas just for the shoots alone. The peas that are grown commercially need to be harvested mechanically, in one hit, and so have been bred to grow without supports but to a lower height. These are intended for freezing, so you rarely see fresh peas in the pod for sale and those that are available have already lost much of their sweetness.
Some plants seed so freely that you don’t need to do anything to help propagate them. However, you may find that they seed so freely that you end up with them growing in places you don’t really want them (the very definition of a weed)and spend all of your time removing them! Where I live is very windy, which blows seeds quite a long way. I have several random clumps of Wild Rocket in quite diverse locations compared with where they were first planted. I love Wild Rocket, so much more peppery than the salad variety, and as it naturalises it becomes acclimatised to the local environment so that it is one of the first crops available to me in the early spring. I have been happy to leave them growing wherever they chose! I’m less happy with the herb marjoram, although it does have pretty mauve-pink flowers that the bees and butterflies love. There is only so much of the herb you can eat though! I mainly use it in cooked tomato dishes – a sauce for pasta or pizza for example. I wish I had sown less in the first place, perhaps just a potful, which I’m sure would have quickly multiplied anyway.
Although most seed sowing is done in the spring, July is a crucial growing month with optimum light and heat. From the beginning until the end of July the day length shortens by around an hour, whilst in both August and September this speeds up to nearer two hours, so we need to make the most of July with a view to winter harvesting.
A sowing of Wild Rocket seeds now might not produce a lot of harvestable leaves this year, but it will mean that they are ready to get growing again as soon as the days start to lengthen. I also make another sowing of both flatleaf and curly parsley this month. Parsley is a biennial crop, so I still have some to keep me going. I tend to use more curly parsley in winter than flat (which I prefer for eating raw) so if you have limited space, I would prioritise curly now and hopefully it will see you through the winter. Sowing flatleaf in the spring will then help you stagger the two crops through their two-year growing period. Salad greens intended for winter consumption e.g. American Land Cress could be sown in late July or even early August.
Of course, one crop per month wouldn’t keep you alive, but it’s a start and, I think, a sound approach to planning what you might grow. Otherwise, it is all to easy to focus on summer crops and forget about winter. Imagine the pride you could take in having your own sprouts (or perhaps the easier Kalettes) for your Christmas dinner. Cavolo Nero is another favourite for winter.
As you move through the year, you might supplement your homegrown produce with what you can forage, e.g. hazel and walnuts, or fungi. Your own fruit trees will grow to give you plums and apples.
Not only does growing your own help you feel more in self-sufficient, but you will, I’m sure, be delighted with the flavour of freshly harvested produce much of which is difficult, if not impossible for supermarkets to provide. The recipe below is a case in point, and I hope will inspire you if you do not already grow courgettes.
Deep-Fried Courgette Flowers
5 oz plain flour
2 teaspoons curry powder
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
8 fl oz sparkling mineral or soda water
24-30 freshly picked courgette flowers (or can be made with courgette slices)
oil for frying
Whisk together the flour, curry powder and salt then add the sparkling water and whisk until smooth. Leave the batter to stand for at least 10 minutes (or up to 24 hours in the refrigerator).
Heat the oil to 190C.
Cut the flowers in half and dislodge any residents. Dip the flowers into the batter, rolling them to coat evenly then shake off any excess. Fry no more than 6 flowers at a time. Remove when the batter is golden and drain on kitchen paper. Season with salt and serve immediately.
If using courgette slices instead of flowers, slice them diagonally, about ¼” thick.
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