Growing your way to health

One of the reasons we wanted our own allotment plot was because we wanted to be in control of how our fruit and vegetables are grown. For many years now there has been much concern about pesticides, GM crops and general pollution affecting the food we eat. It's hard to distinguish fact from fiction. There's so many conflicting reports about what is harmful and what is good for you that it's difficult for the layman to decide what is the truth. One way to get round this is to grow your own fruit and vegetables.

What can be fresher than digging up or picking your own crop and then cooking or eating it straight away? It's well known that once vegetables have been picked they start to lose their nutritional qualities. Our allotment isn't very far away so we can go down regularly to pick our crop. There are also other crops that we still grow in our garden for convenience. A selection of tomato plants will keep you going throughout the summer months and will be so handy when you just need a few tomatoes to throw into a salad. They will also be far tastier when picked straight from the vine.

There are other benefits to growing your own food. We currently have broad beans growing at the allotment. Last year we had so many we struggled to use them all ourselves and even gave away bags and bags of them. What we couldn't eat immediately we froze to see us through the year. I love broad beans and use them in lots of different dishes but if I had to buy them at the supermarket they would be an occasional treat as the cost is far too high for an everyday purchase. One 500g bag of fresh broad beans costs around £1.50 but a packet of seeds which will see you through the growing season only costs a couple of pounds.

Do you grow your own vegetables? If you struggle with getting enough veg into your diet have a look at this infographic to see the benefits both health wise and financially of growing your own.

This is a collaborative post.