Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

"Both have tapped into public concern about the carbon footprint of food
and
how it is produced. 'Celebrity chefs have done a lot to encourage people to
start growing their own vegetables and herbs through the large number of
cookery shows on television,' Knowles said. 'Food traceability is another
key factor; more and more people want to know where their food comes from
and that it is free from pesticides.' "


A Good Life for all as 'grow your own' booms
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2170318,00.html
Jamie Doward and Johnny McDevitt
Sunday September 16, 2007


TV chefs are inspiring the nation to use plant pots, allotments and even
window sills to provide fresh and exotic vegetables for our plates


Some call it the 'Titchmarsh factor'. Others cite the popularity of Hugh
Fearnley-Whittingstall's Tales from River Cottage or Jamie Oliver's latest
series, Jamie At Home, in which the TV chefs cook mouth-watering produce
plucked from their well-stocked gardens nestling in telegenic bucolic
idylls. Whatever the reason, an increasing number of Britons want to bring
a bit of the Good Life into their homes and the phenomenon is even
extending to flat-dwellers in big cities.


Figures from the Horticultural Trades Association, which represents more
than 2,500 garden centres and businesses, reveal a new-found desire among
Britons to grow their own, even in the most tiny, unprepossessing spaces.

At a time when sales of all plants and bulbs are, at best, static, and in
many cases declining, sales of seeds used to grow edible plants and herbs
are already up 7 per cent on last year and are set to break the
double-digit percentage increase by the end of 2007.

The most popular seeds in Britain's supermarkets and garden centres are
peas and beans, herbs, salads and tomatoes, but the growing demand for
exotic vegetables suggests growers are becoming more adventurous. The surge
in popularity of grow-your-own comes at a time when the increasing number
of people living alone means many city-dwellers don't have access to
gardens. The government estimates one in three new homes are built on
former gardens.

As a result, green-fingered enthusiasts are having to resort to tubs and
window boxes to make the most of available space. In the past year Tesco
has seen an 18 per cent rise in demand for edible plant seeds, with the
biggest rises coming from sales of more unusual vegetables such as chillies
(up 42 per cent), sorrel (38 per cent) and garlic (34 per cent), which can
all be grown in pots on windowsills or tubs. The supermarket giant has also
recorded a 27 per cent rise in sales of growing boxes.

'There are several reasons for the current boom, but the increase in TV
gardening programmes has had a major effect in boosting interest in
horticulture - a fact the industry calls the Titchmarsh factor,' said Tesco
horticulture buyer Louisa Knowles. Alan Titchmarsh, who has become an
unlikely hero for men and women of all ages, has pulled in millions of
viewers to his Gardener's World series, which at its peak attracted 12
million viewers. Meanwhile, Jamie Oliver's latest series is attracting some
2.4 million. As with the Fearnley-Whittingstall programmes filmed at his
Dorset cottage, Oliver professes the joy of eating fresh home-grown produce
that has travelled only a few yards to the kitchen.

Both have tapped into public concern about the carbon footprint of food and
how it is produced. 'Celebrity chefs have done a lot to encourage people to
start growing their own vegetables and herbs through the large number of
cookery shows on television,' Knowles said. 'Food traceability is another
key factor; more and more people want to know where their food comes from
and that it is free from pesticides.'

In January, 3.8 million people tuned into Grow Your Own Veg on BBC2,
compared with the 3.6 million who watched Celebrity Big Brother. The Royal
Horticultural Society's (RHS) book Grow Your Own Veg reached number two in
the UK hardback non-fiction chart this year, while its website dedicated to
the subject regularly receives 15,000 hits a day. 'People are feeling
disconnected from their food,' said Guy Barter, head adviser at the RHS.
'And they are iffy about where their food is produced. By growing their own
they're reclaiming control. They're not looking to be self-sufficient, but
they want something fresh and tasty to add to their diet.'

The society believes much of the drive is coming from parents who want to
show their children where food comes from. 'They'll keep a pot of potatoes
by the back door; children are astounded when they discover that potatoes
grow in the ground,' Barter said.

The market in edible plant seeds, now worth more than £40m in Britain, is
the latest indication of consumers' rekindled love affair with going back
to nature. Specialist websites allowing enthusiasts to swap ideas have
experienced a surge in popularity, while there are long waiting lists for
allotments after decades in the doldrums. 'Two years ago at my allotment in
Woking there were hundreds of vacant plots,' Barter said. 'Now we've got 60
people on the waiting list.'

As part of its Grow Your Own campaign, the RHS is touring Britain with a 3m
x 3m display garden showing what can be grown on a small patch. At present
the garden boasts lettuces, endives, Chinese greens, spinach, edible
flowers, baby carrots and salad onions.

The society believes its display garden reflects shifting consumer tastes.
An increasing number of the society's recruits are under 40, the majority
of them women, many of whom have children. As a result of this change,
tastes in grow-your-own are becoming more varied, with enthusiasts opting
for easy-to-maintain raised beds and a wider selection of increasingly
exotic garden produce.

Britain's garden centres, which received 144 million visits last year, have
reported a surge in demand for polythene tunnels to protect the new
varieties of vegetables being produced. 'In the old days it was all cabbage
and potatoes,' Barter said. 'Now it's tomatoes, aubergines and beans of all
different colours.'

But he warned that such horticultural exoticism can come at a price. 'These
plants are much more difficult to grow,' he said. 'It's fine if you have a
nice hot summer, but this year a lot of people have come a cropper.'