For goodness sake grow some potatoes , cabbage , carrots , peas , lettuce and every other common garden vegetable , says Paul Peacock
“ Heathrow was the source of most of the vegetables for London . Today the catchment is the whole world .”
city cottage lifestyle
City Cottage
Lifestyle
For goodness sake grow some potatoes , cabbage , carrots , peas , lettuce and every other common garden vegetable , says Paul Peacock
I am getting fed up . The argument goes that we shouldn ’ t grow common vegetables because you can buy them in the shops so cheaply . It ’ s an argument that is driving me mad for all kinds of reasons .
Instead , they say , grow something that is expensive , or just not available . That way you can experience something new and save a few pennies too . I even heard one TV punter saying he wasn ’ t surprised demand for allotments was dropping off while garden media stops focusing on crops that are hard to grow yet cheap to buy !
City Cottage Philosophy
We strongly believe we should be growing all the vegetables we eat . It ’ s not hard , you don ’ t need much land , and there are lots of reasons for this .
All those cheap to buy vegetables from supermarkets are not cheap . At one time , for example , Heathrow was the source of most of the vegetables for London . Today , the catchment is the whole world . We import around 40 % of our vegetables from all around the world .
New potatoes from Kenya , Brazil , tomatoes from Spain , salads from as far afield as the Far East . Yes , these foods might well be cheap in money terms , but from an environmental point of view , they are costly indeed .
What is worse , the proportion of our food imported is increasing , despite the fact that 5 % of our vegetables are now grown on allotments and in gardens .
Better food
No matter what they say , a carrot dug up one day in a field , even a UK field , washed and packed the next day , shipped to the distribution centre the next , and thence to the individual supermarket before sitting on a shelf for a day or two is nowhere near as nutritious or flavoursome as the one I just pulled from my plot ten minutes ago , and will eat for my dinner in another twenty minutes .
“ Heathrow was the source of most of the vegetables for London . Today the catchment is the whole world .”