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Grow for Great Britain
The UK hasn't been able to produce enough food to feed itself for over a century which is why there was strict food rationing and a campaign to Dig for Victory in the 2nd WW.
I quite agree that people should be encouraged to grow more fruit and veggies if they have a bit of land and that everyone, not just the UK, could make the effort to eat seasonal and more locally produced food but for the UK that means European fruit, veg and meat rather than shipping it in from Africa, Australasia, South America or, heaven forfend, the USA and Canada with their additives, chemicals and GMs if CETA and co succeed.
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I'm a bit in two minds about " air miles"
For years we told " developing countries" to invest and " trade out of poverty" Now we're turning our back on them when they've done just that.
Not sure.
An impossible task - this country doesn't have enough tillable land or the right climate to be self-sufficient in food and remain healthy (and if we tried to bring more land into cultivation, what about environmental concerns?)
I shall continue to grow a few vegetables and fruit that we like to eat and which aren't easily available in the shops. But there's no way we could be anything like self-sufficient.
Anyway, I thought the Brexiters wanted us to recreate our trading links with the Commonwealth rather than our European neighbours? That'll involve more air miles rather than less.
Last edited: 28 October 2016 09:10:41
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
What is Great Britain?
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Wasn't aware that 'Great' had ever been removed - it means the island that is England, Scotland and Wales as one unit and the smaller islands that form part of the archipelago (such as the Isle of Wight, Anglesey, the Isles of Scilly, the Hebrides and the island groups of Orkney and Shetland, that are part of England, Wales, or Scotland) but excludes Northern Ireland which forms part of the island of Ireland.
Nothing to do with 'being great'.
It was turned into an advertising ploy back in the Swinging Sixties. May the heavens preserve us from that sort of jingoistic enterprise today - it would not be taken well by any of our trading partners, current or future.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I don't have the space for a proper veg patch in my tiny garden, I could never grow enough produce to independently feed the family. It's just for fun
This year I've grown tomatoes, peppers and chillies in the vacant space in the greenhouse, once my seed grown flowering annuals are planted out in the garden.
Fresh peas grow up a netted fence panel, so easy to do and better tasting than the supermarket offerings.
First time harvest from a couple of raspberry canes planted beside the greenhouse was delicious
and cost effective compared to shop prices for a tiny punnet.
Dove - I often get asked that by Belgians and now the local French as well as what's the difference between GB and United Kindoms and why am I not "English". OH is, born and bred but I'm a mix of all except Welsh with some Danish thrown in for good measure and was born in what was then Tanganyika Territory.
Always thought Team GB was a misnomer.
Rant warning.
I was brought up to grow stuff. My Grandad had some hundreds of chickens - meat and laying - my Dad had meat rabbits. Grandad also grew fruit and vegetables and there were plenty of people round about with pigs in the garden with no neighbour objections. We never really knew about rationing. Am I beginning to sound like the Hovis advert? Anyway, I carried on where they laid off. Our second house had 0.25 acres and in the steel strike I built up to 5 allotments. Now, in my 70s I have 1.25 acres, some of it rough where I grew fruit - 19 top fruit - and vegetables. Some more successfully than others. I am all for home grown. Not everyone has the space that I have but even on a balcony stuff can be grown. This year I have had a very successful salad bar which doesn't take up much space.
Great Britain, don't know, I'm a Yorkshireman, that's enough for me.
With apologies to the moderator, you can see my activities on my flickr album at:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/norwichhouse-oakridge/albums/72157655792756058
Malcolm
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Scroggin oh I wish you were a neighbour I would be happy to absorb your excesses in my kitchen. When you walk around the supermarket it is so silly how many things are pre pealed pre prepared probably not at all fresh. But that's what society at the moment seems to need / want.
I do not have enough space to grow all the vegetables we eat. Even though there's only two of us we always seem to need more vegetables! But I don't grow for the convince (even if I do hate visiting the supermarket) or cost. I grow because I enjoy it.
That said: I wish I were organised enough to lay out my vegetable beds so that I could even come close to growing enough food that I could pass excess on to my neighbours.