Peter Dowdall: Growing our own food is super-easy

Seeds of many edibles can be started off indoors during the next few weeks and months

If you take a low average that each plant will produce 25 tomatoes then the maths will show that for your €3-€5 investment you will have about 625 tomatoes. File pictures

Sun, 03 Mar, 2024 - 10:03

Peter Dowdall

I was recently buying some tomatoes in my local supermarket and in my head I began to do some simple maths. There were five organic tomatoes in my packet and the cost was €2.99.

A packet of tomato seed will contain about 25 to 30 seeds and depending on the brand and where you buy them, this packet of seed will cost anything from €3-€5.00

If you take a low average that each plant will produce 25 tomatoes then the maths will show that for your €3-€5 investment you will have about 625 tomatoes which would have cost you €375 in any supermarket or farmers market. A good return on any investment surely.

If you take a low average that a tomato plant will produce 25 tomatoes then the maths will show that for your €3-€5 investment in a packet of seeds you will have about 625 tomatoes which would have cost you €375 in any supermarket or farmers market.

The same logic and arithmetic will apply to any of the fruit and veg in our shopping baskets and the good news is that now is the time to get started on growing our own food.

Seeds of many edibles can be started off indoors during the next few weeks and months. It's possibly a bit too early yet for tomatoes, but peas, broccoli, carrots, salad leaves and lettuce, in fact nearly all of the staples on our plates can be started now.

If you have never grown your own fruit, vegetables and herbs before, then fear not, for it really couldn't be easier. None of it is rocket science, all it takes is a little time but do you know what, apart from the obvious financial gain you will benefit from, you will knock so much enjoyment out of growing your own food, that is worth more than any money.

Also, if you have young kids, they too will enjoy it with you. I first developed my love for gardening doing just this, aged about 3 or 4 with my mother. I still remember pottering around at her feet mixing soil, compost and sand in a wheelbarrow to fill the seed trays in which we would start off the seeds.

I vividly remember the kick I used to get out of it, just touching the soil, levelling off the seed trays and finally the magical bit of putting the seeds into the compost which to me is akin to plugging an electrical item into a socket in the wall. You really are just connecting the seed to the energy which already exists.

And then, watching day by day for germination, the excited child in me still brings me out to see when the wonders have produced their first leaves and then, in no time at all, they will need pricking off, which simply means giving each seedling a bit more space and then hardening off, which is a term used to describe how we acclimatize these little seedlings to being outside.

When the time comes, normally in late April and early May, move the small plants outside for a few hours each day over three or four days giving them a bit longer outside each day before finally planting them outside.

It's a bit like letting your babies go into the real world where they will have to compete with such challenges as slugs, snails, rabbits and other soil-borne pests and diseases where only the fittest survive.

You can help their chances of survival by ensuring the soil is in good condition and using weapons such as netting and companion plants to help them on their journey.

Each type of vegetable and each species will differ slightly in their germination and growing requirements but the information is always on the back of the seed packet and obviously, a quick search online will answer nearly all common or garden queries.

If I were to give a couple of tips to those starting out on the journey they would be these, firstly trust your instinct. Gardening and growing plants in the soil is the most basic thing we can do after breathing eating and drinking. There were no gardening books available nor Internet searches for the first gardeners.

The ability to grow is innate within all of us. Allow yourself to be that four-year-old child again and just put the seed in the soil and give it a go.

I am 51 years down my gardening journey and every day is still full of trial and error but thankfully the errors are becoming fewer.

Before too long you will get the bug, perhaps one or more of your children will also join you and develop a fascination with this world as I did. Then, not only are you gardening and growing your own food but you’re spending time with your children with no need for electronics no need for admission fees to family fun parks, and no hours spent in the car dropping them to places to be entertained, just you the soil and a packet of seeds.

When children are involved in growing their own food, they are also far more likely to eat the end result, no longer do you have the challenge of getting the veggies into the kids at dinner time

Another tip I would give is to be realistic. A packet of lettuce seed can have 2000 seeds inside and even Bugs Bunny would struggle to get through that amount, so just sow a few at a time and then a few more a week or two later so that you will be harvesting over a longer period as well and not having a glut of any one product in one week.

Be realistic also about the time commitment. You can sow thousands of seeds in a very short space of time but managing the plants throughout the summer could quickly become a full-time job. So start small with a few seeds of a few varieties so as not to be overwhelmed.

You will have a fabulous experience growing your own food and picking those fresh tomatoes from the vine after the time and effort invested, enjoying the fantastic scent and magical flavour that only a homegrown tomato can give, is an experience a million times better than putting the plastic covered five or six fruits into the shopping trolley.