Go local and get back to your roots

IT’S heart-lifting to see so many people back in their vegetable gardens again.

The next best thing is to buy locally-grown food and that, too, is becoming more available. We’re importing vast quantities of carrots, onions and potatoes, even cabbage, all stuff we could grow in Ireland. Undoubtedly, there are opportunities to replace foreign produce.

If anyone needed encouragement to grow their own vegetables, the fine weather of the past week couldn’t have come at a better time. Many people took advantage of the favourable elements to dig and prepare the soil. Growing your own is truly back in vogue, as evidenced by ever increasing demands for allotments from city and townsfolk.