Growing your own vegetables this year in your ecologically landscaped Buckinghamshire garden!

One of the few simple pleasures in life is to produce your own food by growing it from seed. In recent years many scandals such as the horse meat scandal has raised concerns about the source of our food. It has been speculated over the years that food produced with additives to prolong shelf life may be good for corporate supermarkets profits but are certainly no good for taste or health. Many speculators have suggested that herbicides and pesticide residues in our food may have links to the onset of cancers and other serious diseases.

It comes to a shock to many people that much of our food is grown using oil based fertilisers derived from fossil fuels. Most of the media always focus on the advances in sustainable energies such as wind and solar but the most sizable threat to the human race is food. When oil depletion occurs no amount of sustainable technologies will be able to replace synthetic oil based fertilisers. Ecospaces does a very good job of explaining this in this article.

So what is the solution? Well the truth is our centralised nucleated densities typical of modern human settlements may need a rethink. Since the industrial revolution, populations have seen a huge shift from dispersed throughout the countryside into cities. In order for future populations to feed themselves there will need to be a re-ruralisation of the population. Skilled farmers and vegetable growers will have to work the land and produce local produce once more.

But does this mean the human race going backwards? Well only if you consider; great health, strong family ties, happier people and almost no cases of cancer or dementia. Bold claims? Well this is exactly the reality of the peasant farmers of countries like Crete experience. In the 1960’s It was recognised that the village people of Crete had the longest life expectancy, happiest lives and had hardly any instances of cancer, cardiovascular disease or dementia. One of the main reasons for this was their local freshly grown and foraged diet. Vigorous physical activity in the form of landscaping and raising animals also meant fitter people. You can find a great article on the diet of the village people of Crete here. This way of eating or ‘lifestyle’ helped commercialised the now famous Mediterranean diet.

One of the most defining factors of this diet is its high percentage of fruit and vegetables. More importantly home grown fruit and vegetables! No pesticides, no genetic manipulation just fresh tasty produce metres from your kitchen door! But how do the great people of Britain and Buckinghamshire locally start growing food if they have limited time or no experience?

At Buckinghamshire landscape gardeners we propose two main options; Perennial fruit and vegetables and raised vegetable planters.

Perennial vegetables are vegetables that once planted produce year after year! Some of these include Rhubarb, Asparagus, and Artichoke. Orchard trees and shrubs such as gooseberries and apples can also give you a low input form of food production. For more information on this The Urban Farmer website has some good resources on this subject. The second way to grow more conventional annual crops such as lettuce, cabbage and potatoes with ease is raised sleeper beds. The height of the beds mean they are easy to work and being filled with good humus rich soil means large strong tasty produce all year. View some examples of our raised vegetable growing beds below.

Buckinghamshire landscape gardeners are experts in fruit and vegetable gardening and how it can be incorporated into your garden. If you would like more information on this or a quotation contact us via the button below.

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