Many gardeners grow a bit of veg – a tomato plant or two, some herbs or lettuce but how easy is it to grow enough to feed yourself without resorting to the supermarket? According to The Self-Sufficiency Garden, it’s not as hard as you’d think.
Two years ago, Huw Richards, who’s co-authored the book with chef Sam Cooper, thought being self-sufficient meant having a lot of space and time. Deciding to put this to the test, he discovered that with careful planning, it’s possible to grow food year-round in a space that’s roughly the size of half an allotment.
(I was given a copy in return for a fair review.)
As with most challenges, Huw believes that breaking it up into more achievable goals is the keystone to success. Start by aiming for a meal that includes homegrown veg, then one where all the veg is homegrown before a day of just homegrown veg and so on.
“Setbacks are a fact of life so if you encounter problems or need a break, don’t be tempted to push on to the next stage,” he advises.
An even simpler route is to be self-sufficient in one crop for a season, such as salad or garlic.
The Self-Sufficiency Garden begins with the basics – the plot. There’s an overview of his garden and detailed instructions on how to create raised beds, hoop beds, hot beds and why a polytunnel is useful. Advice also covers watering, growing vertically to maximise the space and making compost.
He aims to be self-sufficient in more than just crops, making many of the structures himself, including a potting bench and tool storage. Diagrams and photos make DIY projects easy to follow. Helpful tips include setting up extra seedling shelves in the polytunnel to make use of beds before they’re needed for crops.
The bulk of the book covers ‘the growing year’ with detailed information on what to sow, harvest and other jobs for each month, covering each of the different areas of the garden.
There’s also advice on sowing into modules – the cell size and number of seeds – watering, dealing with pests, and the expected yield and spacing for plants.
Knowing what to do with this homegrown bounty is the other part of the journey and Sam Cooper has contributed not only a series of recipes from soup to one-tray bakes but also advice on preserving through fermentation or pickles and chutneys.
A chart gives details of how to use every crop from whether you can eat it raw to cooking methods and how to freeze it.
At the start, we’re told that the nutritional benefit was the primary consideration when it came to choosing what to grow.
“. . . the more nutritious the food is, the better it’s going to taste.” And that must be the best reason for growing your own.
The Self-Sufficiency Garden by Huw Richards and Sam Cooper is published by DK with an RRP of £16.99. You can buy it here for £13.45. (If you buy via this link, I receive a small commission. The price you pay is not affected.) Alternatively, you may wish to buy from an independent bookseller here. All prices correct at time of publication of this post.
Photos © Huw Richards
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This sounds good. I am growing more food crops this year, last week we ate nearly all the peas in one meal. So I need a book like this to help me improve my outputs!
I definitely could do better. Do need some sunshine though.