Zero Waste Mann’s Sarah Calverley shares her experience of how easy – and enjoyable – it is to grow your own fruit and vegetables
--------------------
As a total amateur at gardening, I’m sure my methods will be laughed at by many experienced gardeners.
But I am able to grow enough to reduce my shopping bill significantly – and that’s good enough for me.
Also, I get the added pleasure of being outdoors, with a purpose. Good result!
Last spring, a shop which was charging more than £2 a punnet for raspberries also sold raspberry bushes for £2 each.
I bought a raspberry bush for my garden. Soon, I was eating fresh raspberries straight from my own patch.
I did not give the plant special treatment, it must just like the Manx soil (and have a very forgiving nature).
I next purchased blackcurrant and gooseberry plants which produced fruit, happily shared by local songbirds.
My neighbours kindly gave me a greenhouse – complete with a resident plantpot, containing a pepper plant.
Again, the poor plant received no particular attention from me, and it was growing in normal garden soil.
After several weeks it provided tasty peppers – and kept replenishing the supply of its own accord.
I put tomato plants in the greenhouse and used empty wine bottles filled with water and stuck upside down to keep the soil moist in case I forgot to water them.
Someone helpfully advised me that it helps to remove the odd growth from between the stem and side shoots.
That is all I did, and my tomato plants were very productive.
It was as easy as that.
Runner beans can be expensive in the shops, and they certainly cannot be as fresh as home grown beans.
In my very amateurish way I made holes in the soil with my fingers, and popped a runner bean seed in each hole, then put a short cane by each bean.
For each cane I cut the bottom off a two-litre plastic bottle and made a little greenhouse for the bean seed, with the cane sticking out of the top of the bottle and the base of the bottle lodged into the soil.
This kept the snails off the beans, and they thrived.
Runner beans were at one time used as ornamental plants for their colourful flowers and they can still be used like this, with the added advantage of producing a useful vegetable too.
I also grow herbs which have medicinal and household uses.
Lavender is a relaxing herb which the bees in the garden enjoy as much as I do.
I pick the lavender and make little lavender bags for the wardrobe as it smells so nice.
Last year I bought a peppermint plant which makes delicious tea.
Lemon balm also flourishes in my garden, which I use to make tea and is also a relaxing herb.
Rosemary, sage and a small bay tree are great for seasoning food.
Nobody has to be, and nobody should be, excluded from enjoying the environment.
And if you have no garden or can’t get out for health reasons, edible plants can be grown indoors too – for example, a basil plant in a nice pot; or be ambitious and try miniature orange and lemon trees.
On occasions when I am sadly unable to enjoy my gardening ‘bug’, I make sure I still get my ‘fix’ of nature by visiting the island’s wonderful local glens and parks – and many parks, such as Nobles’ Park, also have access for wheelchair users.
If you haven’t done so for a while, put on your boots and visit your local park – enjoy Mann!