V for Victory?

Perusing the morning's newspaper on my daily commute is usually an automated exercise that makes the train journey from Hackney to Richmond less laborious. However, this week I was struck by a news piece that was so relevant to the London Vegetable Garden that I jumped up in surprise, much to the shock of the dozing commuter opposite me!

As you all know, one of the main things I've been campaigning for as part of the London Vegetable Garden project, is the opening up of disused spaces for allotment and gardening purposes. With London allotment lists currently more oversubscribed than the Susan Boyle fan club, being a keen gardener within the confines of the M25 can be a 'fruitless' occupation – yet this is simply not fair.

So as you can imagine, it was with real relish that I read of the City of London's plans to open up some of the many vacant building sites that have sprung up around the city in recent months. The recession we're currently wading through has put a stop to much building work, leaving large open spaces that are currently unoccupied and unused.

Sue Ireland, head of Open Spaces in the City states that: “There are plenty of temporary sites awaiting development and there is no reason why, if carefully done, they could not be turned to other uses. We are trying to identify a site on the edge of the Square Mile that would be vacant for between 18 months and two years. Grow bags are one possibility. They could be butted up together and moved as and when the developers need to start work."

This may seem like another social gardening story that will pique press attention for a couple of weeks, but I honestly believe this is the start of a much larger movement. Since the very beginning of the London Vegetable Garden project, I've been adamant that if enough of us get behind a movement, we can bring about change in London's councils and reclaim disused public space for new allotments and gardening purposes.

This current news story represents a dynamic shift in local government thinking and is a huge victory for all urban gardeners – let's build on this progress and keep pushing for more allotments and open space – the power to do this is in all of our hands. What are your thoughts? Please feel free to leave your opinion in the comments section.

(To read the article on the Guardian website, simply click here.)

Preparing for a global food shortage?

A friend of mine passed me a copy of the Sunday Times magazine supplement this weekend, pointing out an interesting article by John-Paul Flintoff, who happened to be writing about several issues that are extremely relevant to the London Vegetable Garden. Whereas I’ve previously examined the concept of growing your own produce as a money-saving ‘credit crunch’ alternative, Flintoff argues that global food shortages could mean we’re all going to have to get proactive with our plots – and soon.

Whilst this feature isn’t meant to paint an apocalyptic picture of doom and gloom, it does raise some extremely interesting points. For example, did you know that 40% of the food we eat is imported, including 95% of our fruit and the wheat in our bread? This is an unbelievably shocking statistic, especially when you consider that in 1900, agricultural employment was at 40% - paltry compared to Britain’s 2% today.

If I were an economist (those that know me will note I usually am after a few pints), I’d start arguing the case that during a recession and rising UK unemployment, surely the Government should start decreasing the amount of produce it imports and start creating more agricultural jobs? Financial politics aside, it’s seems extremely clear, that modern governments just aren’t concerned about self-sufficiency.

This belief is shared with Professor Tim Lang of City University, London, who draws upon a recent report from the Cabinet Office, stating that “existing patterns of food production are not fit for a low-carbon, more resource-constrained future” – a damning indictment indeed. So if our ‘elected representatives’ are failing to deal with this, apparently very real, issue, perhaps we as communities and individuals should be tackling this situation at a much more ‘grassroots’ (forgive the intentional pun) level?

Flintoff talks about ‘Transition Towns’ as a collective answer to a shared problem. Several towns are now planning ahead and striving to become more self-sufficient. Initiatives such as shared-space growing, sourcing local produce and fruit tree mapping are all schemes that are being met with considerable success. But where does that leave us in terms of our individual responsibilities?

Faced by the very real possibility of future food shortages, more and more of us are re-learning to do something that most of us have forgotten, despite the fact that we’ve been farming for 600 generations. What is this? Simply, how to grow our own food. The London Vegetable Garden may not produce enough radishes to sell to local shops, and it may not keep hunger at bay should a global food shortage kick in, but I’m getting back to my agricultural roots and trying to highlight just how much can be achieved if all of us chip in and do our bit.

(The original article can be viewed on the Times Online website by clicking here.)

New arrivals!

So, two weeks down the line and things on the balcony are well underway, highlighted by the impressive size of the newly re-potted runner beans! Now that there is once again a little bit of space back on the balcony windowsill, I’ve made a few new additions to the London Vegetable Garden.

Many of you have emailed in to say that herbs are an easy and space-efficient plant to grow on a balcony or on a sunny kitchen windowsill. I’ve taken this on board and am looking to start a varied herb garden over the next few weeks. The first of these, planted yesterday, is Coriander (Coriandrum Sativum). The packet instructions say that it is enough to grow this in pots on a windowsill, so this is a great way for city gardeners to maximise the variety of produce they can grow whilst economising space.

The second batch of new additions to the London Vegetable Garden this week is French Breakfast Radishes (Raphanus Sativus). The packet states that these are high-yielding crops, ideal for use as a ‘catch-crop’ between slower growing vegetables, so we’ll see if they arrive before the carrots! I’ve planted these in deep pots – as a shallow vegetable, hopefully they’ll have plenty of room to grow.

On a non-vegetable note, my other half is beginning to get concerned at the amount of compost-ridden pots taking over the balcony, so I’ve invested in some more flowers to ensure the balcony retains its aesthetic qualities and keeps her happy – White Foxgloves (Digitalis Purpurea). Progress will be reported here first!

Vegetable Economics?

Whilst I started the London Vegetable Garden project as a horticultural hobby, there are several social issues that not only surround urban gardening and growing your own organic produce, but wider economic factors as well as gardening in general.

‘Growing your own’ has been well documented in recent years thanks to your friend and mine, the ‘celebrity chef’, as well as programmes such as ‘River Cottage’ and a nostalgic longing for a simpler, rustic lifestyle. But recent events of the last twelve months (I refer, of course, to the dreaded ‘credit crunch’) have left many British residents turning to their gardens as a way of saving money rather than an enjoyable pastime.

An abundance of ‘grow your own’ websites have shot up on the web (an apt analogy!) and as long as a year ago (April 2008), papers such as the Independent were publishing articles highlighting the fact that growing your own vegetables would allow you to harvest significant savings on your supermarket shopping bill.

This insightful article (available to view here) suggests that by growing our own vegetables, we could save up to £1,400 a year – a significant amount whatever your income. It’s important to note here that this figure is guessed based on the running of a successful, productive allotment or vegetable garden – so where does this leave the London Vegetable Garden?

Whilst excited about the thought of eating home-grown, natural vegetables, I’m under no pretensions that this project is going to impact my supermarket bill in any radical fashion – corporate behemoths such as Tesco need not worry about losing any of my custom just yet. But it is interesting to see just how realistic figures such as those quoted by the Independent actually are.

I have the price of my seeds and compost all written down. As soon as I can accurately measure how much produce I’m actually producing per seed packet etc, when things really start growing and yielding vegetables, I’ll be writing an entry detailing exactly how much I’m saving – or not.

Watch this space…

(Top-left photo courtesy of Drunken Monkey)

Wartime Spirit - Social Implications of Credit Cruch Gardening...

Whilst the whole London Vegetable Garden project is simply an interesting hobby to see if I can actually grow a few vegetables on my London balcony, there are many more people doing exactly the same, meaning important social conclusions can be drawn from this trend.

Sales of vegetable seeds / plants in Britain now outnumber those of flowers, whilst waiting lists for London allotments have reached truly unprecedented levels, indicating a very marked shift in the UK’s horticultural habits. Whilst I’ve nodded towards what I refer to as the ‘River Cottage Effect’ in a recent blog post, this cannot be the sole reason behind the increased interest in gardening and ‘growing your own’ produce.

Some commentators speculate that the ‘credit crunch’ has had a significant effect upon people who are looking to save a bit of money by growing their own cheap vegetables. With supermarket vegetable prices fluctuating almost daily, it’s not hard to believe that many people are turning to their own back gardens for fresh produce rather than paying over the odds for imported, poor quality veg.

It’s a well-known fact that in Britain, we throw away a shocking amount of food each week; not only a sad indication of our excessive consumerist natures, but also a dreadful waste of money that could be better spent elsewhere. One of the greatest monetary advantages of growing your own is that the back garden is, in effect, one big fridge. Whilst supermarket produce goes off within a week, green-fingered horticulturalists can harvest the freshest produce by simply pulling it out of the earth, saving money by using only what they need, only when they need it.

‘Celebrity’ chefs / gardeners (delete as applicable) are all urging us to go organic and grow our own produce. Current affairs programmes and TV presenters are all saying that we should ‘make do and mend’. It seems that we’ve recently gone back to bygone days of wartime Blitz spirit and ‘digging for victory’ to quote the famous poster. One thing’s for sure – the ‘credit crunch’ has resulted in a lot more British people crunching into home-grown vegetables once more, and that can only be a good thing.