Sustainable Living with Transition Town Wellington

The speed at which panic buyers emptied our supermarket shelves highlighted to many of us the importance of our of food security.

Keeping us well fed as a nation will be a top priority for the Government and farmers but we must do all we can to help.

Firstly, don’t panic buy, especially for perishable items. This has led to our recycling collectors finding tonnes of food wasted, and other people not being able to get what they need.

Secondly, we could help by growing food in our gardens. An intensively managed back garden can potentially provide more yield per acre than a farmer’s field due to our ability to grow many different crops together, continue ’successive’ sowing throughout the year and filling in gaps where they appear.

As many of us have more time on our hands as we stay at home because of the coronavirus crisis, now is the perfect opportunity to start that veg patch you’ve been thinking about for years!

People across the country are digging up their lawns to convert them into a productive growing space. You can still find suppliers to deliver compost and seeds to your home, such as B&Q, Homebase, Chelston Nurseries and Dalefoot Composts, and some supermarkets also sell these items.

Lots of how-to videos are available on You Tube and you can look up almost any question on Google. The main hurdles to overcome in your garden will be slugs, snails and cats.

You can start to deal with slugs by upturning stones and pots in your garden where they hide, or leaving items out at night – such as an oven tray – which they will be hiding under the next morning.

You can find many more detailed tips by checking out the Transition Town Wellington Facebook page, where we will be providing a series of posts to help you along.

We will focus on repurposing found items and your household waste to protect and fertilise your crop, such as how to grow seed in waste food containers, using net curtains to protect your crops from cold, insects and cats, as well as how to make compost fast from food and paper waste. You can check out ttw.org.uk too and download a seasonal guide to growing vegetables.

So happy gardening everyone – and I hope when the coronavirus crisis is over, many more people will have discovered the joy of growing the tastiest, vitamin-packed, fresh vegetables for themselves, which will help us greatly with our immune system, physical well-being, and mental health, as well as increasing our food security.

HELEN GILLINGHAM