6th Apr 2009

Follow Michelle Obama and Grow Your Own

Save money and the planet by growing your own food

Most homes in the Barnet area are fortunate enough to have gardens big enough for families to grow their own fruit and vegetables, but how many do that these days?

Barnet Green Party is calling on local people to follow the example of United States First Lady Michelle Obama and turn over at least part of their garden to growing food. Not only is home-grown food cheaper but it is fresher, more nutritious and tastes better than shop bought products which could have been stored for weeks and may have been sprayed with who knows what chemicals.

Growing your own also helps fight climate change as up to a third of a person's carbon footprint comes from the production and transport of the food and drink that he or she consumes. Media have reported that Michelle Obama has begun digging an organic kitchen garden at the White House which will supply the first family with vegetables for many of their meals. Mrs Obama said that her daughters Malia and Sasha and the president himself will take time to tend to the garden.

The Obamas plan to become "locavores", or members of a movement that believes eating locally grown food weans dependence from large industrial farms and boosts local economies.

"So why not be a locavore yourself? You can grow as little or as much food as you have time for, and it may not take as much time as you think. For instance, fruits like raspberries, currants, apples and pears need hardly any looking after once the plants are established," says Barnet Green Party member Andrew Newby.

"Or start by growing a few peas or tomatoes in growbags - children who turn their noses up at vegetables on their plate may be converted by peas straight from the pod or a ripe cherry tomato which they pluck from the plant themselves," added Newby, who has 24 fruit trees on the two allotments he has had at Whetstone Stray for the past 15 years.