A step into sustainable living
Humble beginnings
Recently my partner and I were afforded the opportunity to move from a third-floor flat into a house. Not a house that we owned or would even get to live in by ourselves, but the promise of a large garden and off-street parking was enough to tempt us, so we jumped in. Now over six months have passed and we've managed to make a few changes to our lifestyles to improve our sustainability, including growing our own food.
Inspiration
British readers over 35 may at one point have stumbled on a TV show called 'The Good Life', which paints a picture of a couple trying to live completely self sufficiently back in the 70s. Watching this during my childhood didn't mean much at the time, but now I find I'm drawn towards that kind of living myself. This is not to say that I want to do without power, cleaning, or shopping, this is one of the biggest misconceptions of sustainability - the idea that it still comes at a high cost.
I'm reminded of the struggles of Mr and Mrs Good (Tom and Barbara from the show), doing without mains electricity or water, only eating what they could grow themselves or trade for other goods they could make. It took true resilience and resourcefulness especially when surrounded by the temptation of local amenities in the London suburb of Surbiton.
Today having your own solar panels, battery storage and electric transportation is almost luxury living, some people can make good money just by being energy independent (such as Texans on Tesla's VPP grid earning up to $5/Kw sold back to the grid) and now so many people want to get in on the action.
We don't have solar or batteries and likely won't be able to until we can afford our own property (perhaps some time in the late 2050s), but just having a place to charge the car at a home rate, even at the slowest possible 2kW, has saved me so much money, time and stress. I was amazed by the convenience of Teslas with their supercharging network, but now I truly understand the potential and reality of electric transport and it’s a different world altogether.
Trial and error
I was fortunate enough to be raised with the experience of gardening, starting with sunflowers and marrows in my parent's back garden, now I've started to dip my toes into building and maintaining my own vegetable plot and I've learned so much in just a few short months. Knowing how to sow seeds is just the beginning, it requires everything from building beds and buying soil, to cultivating different types of plants and dealing with the various pests attracted to them, but it’s so easy so start and learn as you go.
We started with herbs in the kitchen, simple pots on the window sill left to grow as they please, occasionally being sprinkled into meals. This is a project that almost anyone can try, it's lovely to have the aromas fill the room whilst grinding or chopping condiments freshly snipped from the plant and there's a real convenience to having your most used seasonings always available.
Instilled with some confidence, a few trips to the garden centre later and we were fully loaded with seed trays, compost and enthusiasm. We planted a wide range of; lettuce, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, onions, and more and eagerly watched their progress. Regular watering is enough for the first few weeks, but soon enough they sprouted to the surface and began maturing. One at a time would be a good way to embrace the hobby, but ambitious as we are, we went full steam ahead and planted six trays which was some work to stay on top of and required a lot of attention at the beginning, but it’s easy enough to get into a routine which helps remove the chore. Luckily, I'm happy to look after them and do feel some pride in seeing how well some have turned out, despite my fairly minimal input in the process.
I constructed a small, simple bed from a few planks and relatively basic DIY skills, roughly 1.2m x 0.5m and 0.3m high. It took 900L of compost to even come close to filling it, one thing to bear in mind is that it will settle after a while and require topping up so it’s good to have some spare. We covered the floor with a protective ground sheet and layered bark around on top to prevent weeds from taking over which seems to be working well, but being separated from the earth means it needs a bit of extra water.
As soon as it was ready we started planting our baby veggies, having slowly acclimatised them with the outdoors over several days. They took to their new home and immediately began to thrive in the outdoor environment. Being close to a fence they receive a good mix of direct and indirect sunlight and just need to be kept moist, we intervene here as required (when the weather dictates). The majority of the work comes from pruning to promote strong growth, along with the removal of critters that want to demolish your food before you can get to it. Just a couple of months later the results were impressive.
Our bounty
I left the corner pieces protruding slightly to allow us to attach a bamboo frame around the edge. The idea was to have something for the tomatoes to grow up against, but soon after we realised that it was necessary to attach a net in place to keep everything protected.
Caterpillars are the bane of leafy greens and this is ideal to keep the butterflies away. Slugs need a different approach, too many times I've been tending lettuce only to lift a leaf and find a huge, happy slug right at the heart of the plant, cheerily munching away in some fantasy food wonderland. I toss them the older leaves further away as a sacrificial distraction, but sure enough every time it rains they emerge again en-mass, so I've taken to crushing up eggshells to set up a perimeter they cannot cross - please leave a comment if you have better suggestions!
Caterpillar eggs need quick removal
They turn up everywhere, you must be constantly vigilant!
The biggest lesson I learned was to trust nature, I might not have a clue what's going on, but it certainly does and in the end usually works out. Even as a first attempt it's going much better than anticipated and we're very happy with the results. Speaking of which, we've already harvested many lettuce and the taste is unbeatable. Growing, picking, washing and eating your own food is an extremely rewarding and healthy experience, it tastes better than anything you could buy in the supermarket and can really be guaranteed organic.
It may not win any beauty contests, but makes the best salads!
Anything else we're able to retrieve over the coming months will be a bonus, but we already consider it a success, especially with the knowledge gained. Next year we'll be even more prepared, we plan to start earlier, expand into additional beds with further variety including peppers, chillies, beans and whatever else we can find! If you're also lucky enough to have a garden and some spare time, maybe think about sewing a few seeds just to see how it goes. You might find, as we do, a rewarding satisfaction from such simple work, along with cost savings and a better diet.