The Green, Green Shoots of Spring

Given the now not so new arrival, we hadn't been to our allotment this year, but I went down yesterday and planted a blackcurrant bush a neighbour had donated. It wasn't as overgrown as I expected to be and the fruit trees were blossoming nicely. We're roping in a couple of friends to share the effort and spoils so hopefully it will soon be back on track.

Growing your own food is probably the single most effective and easiest thing to do to reduce your ecological footprint. The Guardian is reporting today that there has been a huge increase in vegetable seed sales so it seems to be becoming trendy too.

You don't need an allotment or even a garden as many crops can be grown in containers and window boxes. There are many, many books, magazines, TV/radio programmes and websites on gardening and most of them take a reasonably eco-friendly approach. The Centre for Alternative Technology has some good tipsheets for download at just 50p if you want to be even greener.

My top tips are:

- Use organic fertiliser/plant food (horse manure, worm juice, or commercial organic products)
- Don't use toxic pesticides like slug pellets (use beer traps, mixed planting and other organic tricks instead)
- Get a water butt
- Build a compost heap

But most of all, enjoy it!