Coming on the heels of more developed and familiar campaigns advising us, the public, to focus more on our lifestyles and become more aware if not responsible for what we eat, how we use energy to heat, and run our homes, reduce and stop our 'landfill' by recycling our waste, be more conscious of what we buy and how we travel, it's hardly surprising that 'Grow Your Own' (GYO) fruit and vegetables is the current flavour of the month campaign to get the public more aware of our environment and contribute directly to collective efforts to reduce our carbon emissions. Not so long ago GYO was considered by some sceptics to be nothing more than a passing craze, but three or four years later, GYO has been embraced by many people determined to discover the good life and now growing a whole range of fruit and vegetables in a myriad of ways. Methods include growing seed in tiny hanging baskets and pots, raised beds, window boxes, on the balcony, under a cold frame and in the glasshouse.
The huge and accelerated popularity and interest in GYO is nothing short of phenomenal with many enthusiasts claiming little or no previous interest in the garden. The demand for GYO products has seen significant shift in consumer purchasing patterns and behaviours with many Garden centre representatives struggling to meet increased demands for GYO products. Many now claim to be selling twice as much GYO fruit and vegetable seed as flower seed.
When it comes to popular home-grown crops, tomatoes is still ahead of growing herbs followed by carrots, peas/beans and potatoes with interest growing in new exotics vegetables such as rocket and aubergines. Recent research indicates that consumers who grow their own fruit and vegetables can reduce their average weekly grocery shopping bill by over EUR 5.00/$ 8.00 or over EUR 250.00/$ 400.00 in a full year, proving that Grow Your Own is not only good for flavour but also good for the pocket! Surely something to bank on for a Good Life?
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