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GIY stands for grow it
yourself and is about a new fashion for growing your own food.
There are a lot of reasons
why growing your own food is a good idea. GIY cuts down your
carbon footprint. Your carbon footprint is the quantity of
carbon dioxide gas, or CO2, you make go into the atmosphere. Too
much CO2, causes global warming and climate change. Food in
supermarkets travels a long way in ships and lorries which
produce a lot of CO2. When you buy food from a supermarket, you
need to ask, “How many food miles does it have?
Also, buying vegetables grown
in heated greenhouses increase your carbon footprint a lot. If
you buy as much food as you can in season from your region, you
help save the planet. If you grow as many vegetables as you can
at home, then you are helping a lot more because you use a lot
less water.
Vegetables you grow yourself
are also good for your body because they contain a lot more
minerals, nutrients and antioxidants than supermarket vegetables
and they don't contain any chemicals such as fungicides,
insecticides or chemical fertilizers either. Your vegetables are
also the freshest and the tastiest you can get. If you GIY, you
learn a lot about plants and farming and it can be very useful
for teaching children about nature and where food comes from
too.
How much money can you save?
To begin with, seeds are a lot cheaper to buy than vegetables.
Then, there are two ways to save even more. Firstly, plant the
most expensive vegetables such as leeks. Secondly, plant the
most productive. One courgette plant produces so many courgettes
that you can give a lot of them to friends and neighbours, which
makes you very popular. Cucumbers, green beans, peas,
raspberries, strawberries and of course tomatoes are great too
and they are all very easy to grow. Herbs are expensive to buy
so you can never grow too much basil, mint, parsely, rosemary or
thyme. Experts say it is best to buy cheap vegetables like
onions and potatoes directly from local farmers.
Don't worry if you don't have
much space. To GIY, you don't even need a garden. You can use
pots on your balcony for growing aubergines, broad beans,
peppers and tomatoes. What's more, don't worry if your space
doesn't get much sun. In that case you can plant endives,
lettuce, peas, radicchio and spinach.
Basically, growing your own
vegetables is a win-win situation. You are richer, you have a
healthier planet, a healthier social life and a healthier body
and mind.
If you would like to see Bob
Wilson's vegetable garden, click below:- |
