There are many advantages to growing your own food:
First of all it allows you more control over how your food is grown. When we buy our food from the shops, we generally have to choose whether we buy food that has been grown using pesticides, herbicides and artificial fertilisers, or whether we spend a little extra money and buy food which has been organically-grown instead. Of course although the latter is grown without the use of toxic chemicals, it's production often involves the use of various animal products. This poses quite a dilemma for many vegans. Of course, ideally we should purchase food which has been grown using vegan-organic methods, but at the present moment it is generally not very easy to find such foods for sale in ordinary shops. It therefore makes sense to grow your own food using vegan-organic growing methods!
It is also worth bearing in mind that much of the food we buy, particularly organic food, is imported. It often travels considerable distances to reach us. This uses up valuable energy resources, causes pollution and contributes to global warming. Also, when we pop out to the shops in the car to buy groceries or vegetables, we further add to this pollution. By growing some of your own food you can help to reduce the amount of food transportation that takes place.
By growing your own food you'll also cut down on waste. You will soon find that the contents of your dustbin start to shrink rapidly! Every time we go shopping we create rubbish. Plastic and paper bags, cartons, jars and cans. Ready-prepared food is particularly good for creating rubbish. Take that ready-prepared, or takeaway pizza, in the large cardboard box for example! In contrast, seeds are purchased in small, readily biodegradable packets. They make little rubbish. Even if you buy your gardening products in bulk by mail order, usually the only rubbish this creates is a cardboard box which is easily composted. In addition, it is often possible to recycle many items of household rubbish when we grow our own food. For example, clear plastic water and fizzy drinks bottles make wonderful cloches when cut in half and small yogurt pots are very useful for potting up small plants. And don't forget that nearly all of your vegetable kitchen waste can be recycled and used to make wonderful garden compost!
Home-grown food is much fresher and hence more nutritious than food which has been purchased from the shops. The shop-bought lettuce, which may have journeyed half way round the globe to reach you, is far from fresh when it's finally placed on the supermarket shelf. And who knows how long it has been sitting upon the shelf before you purchased it?! In contrast a home-grown lettuce can be brought in from the garden just before you wash and eat it. There are even many types of lettuces and salad vegetables where you can pluck off individual leaves as required. Now what could be fresher than that!
Growing your own fruit and vegetables is much cheaper too. Let's face it a lot of ready-grown organic produce is not particularly cheap! Look at the price of shop-bought, organically-grown tomatoes for example. Yet for about £1.00 you can purchase a packet of tomato seeds and grow your own tomatoes. Even if you are a very bad gardener (or are just very unlucky with the weather!) and only produce one tomato plant from the whole packet of seeds you will still have made a profit on your initial investment. You can further reduce your seed costs by swopping seeds and plants with other gardeners and by saving your own seeds each year.
Another reason to grow your own food is that it can be a very satisfying experience. I still remember the first time I grew my own cauliflowers. The sight of this tiny half-inch cauliflower when it first appeared amongst the leaves - it really made me feel quite maternal! In fact it is amazing just how much satisfaction you can get from producing your own produce. (Even a tiny mishapen carrot can cause considerable pride.) Growing your own fruit and vegetables also gets you out into the fresh air, provides you with a means of getting gentle exercise and can even become quite a social occasion when information, seeds or plants are swopped with other aspiring gardeners, on your allotment or in your area.
Finally if the weather is bad, it can be quite nice to know that you have food to eat growing in your own garden and home-grown, dried beans stored in your larder. Then, instead of driving around on icy roads or in foggy conditions to buy groceries, all you need to do is to step out into the garden and snap off some bits of kale, or quickly pull up a cabbage or a few leeks. The fog may linger in the garden for quite some time, but there is no need for you to linger out there with it!
Choosing What To Grow
Well those are just some of the reasons why it is a good idea to grow your own food. But which crops should you grow? To answer this question first of all make a list of all of the fruit and vegetables that you and your family love to eat. This may seem obvious, but there really is no point successfully growing rows and rows of Brussels sprouts, or cabbages, only to discover that nobody is going to eat them anyway!
Next bear in mind the conditions in your garden. Each type of vegetable is unique and requires its own unique set of conditions in order to grow well. Garlic, for example, likes plenty of sunshine and carrots won't grow very well in water-logged, very fertile, or stony soils. If you haven't grown your own vegetables before, then it may take you a few years to establish which vegetables will do well in your garden. Don't be afraid to experiment! Try out as many different varieties as you can for the first few years. Ask neighbours which crops do particularly well in their gardens. You may even find that they offer you a few of their spare plants to try out in your garden! Many seed suppliers offer packets of mixed seeds e.g lettuce mixtures. By purchasing such mixed packets of seeds you can experiment with several different varieties at once, usually at no extra cost. And by doing this, you can find out fairly quickly which varieties do well in your garden and also which ones you prefer to eat. Another way of achieving crop diversity is to grow extra plants of the varieties of seeds you have purchased and to swop these for other varieties with other keen gardeners in your area.
It's also important to realise that the weather can have a dramatic effect on a crop's yield and a crop which doesn't do particularly well one year can then go on to produce a bumper yield in subsequent years. So if a crop doesn't do very well in your garden, the first time you try it, don't give up on it immediately. If you still have some seeds left, try growing it again the following year.
Another thing to take into account when choosing which crops to grow in your garden is how much time you have available for gardening and whether you have the facilities to raise plants indoors from seed. If you don't have much time (or have little room to raise your own plants) then steer clear of crops like leeks, tomatoes, peppers and brassicas which usually require potting up. (Plants of these crops can of course be purchased ready-grown from a good nursery and planted straight outside, but doing this will increase your gardening costs somewhat!) Instead mainly concentrate on crops which can be sown directly into the ground. Crops such as peas, beans, perpetual spinach, landcress, parsley, radishes, spring onions, garlic, beetroot, carrots, turnips, sweetcorn, onion sets, parsnips and many kinds of Oriental vegetables are ideal for direct sowing and once planted don't require that much attention. These are also good crops to grow if you don't want to spend a lot of time gardening. Potatoes can also be grown fairly easily, provided you have a cool, frost-free, well-lit area indoors where you can put your seed potatoes to chit. The main disadvantage of growing your own potatoes is that seed potatoes are more expensive to purchase initially than most other types of seeds.
You will also need to take into account how quickly you want to harvest your crops. Many types of brassicas, for example, take about nine months before they are ready for harvesting. In contrast, many salad crops - lettuces, radishes etc. can be harvested quickly, usually within a few months and allow a much faster crop turnover. This may be something that you wish to bear in mind if you only have a small amount of land available for growing your own produce.
In your first year of 'growing your own' start off small, perhaps converting a small area of your lawn for growing fruit and vegetables. (You can find out how to convert your lawn to a vegetable area by reading HDRA's booklet entitled: Grow Your Own Vegetables - Getting Started.) You will be amazed to discover just how much you can grow, even in a small area, particularly if you select crops which produce quickly, or use dwarf varieties. And once you are well and truly hooked, you can either extend your vegetable patch further, or even acquire your own allotment (contact your local council for more information about this).
Legumes, such as peas and beans, provide a cheap, non-animal source of protein for many vegans. For this reason and because on the whole legumes are very easy to grow, I am going to devote the rest of this article entirely to this group of vegetables. When you mention peas and beans, most people will probably think of fresh peas in the pod, or commonly grown British beans such as the broad bean or the runner bean, or even (god forbid!) cans of baked beans. However, there are many other varieties of legumes, apart from these common ones, which will grow well in the British climate. Here, I wish to draw your attention to some of the less well known varieties, many of which are extremely useful because they can also be dried and stored for winter use.
| Name | Sow From: | Type Of Bean | Use Dried? | Description of Bean | Seed Suppliers |
| Brown Dutch | May | Dwarf French | Yes | Golden brown, oval. Pods can be eaten fresh and beans can be dried | The Organic Gardening Catalogue (£1.17) and from Thomas Etty Esq. (£1.00) |
| Coquette | May | Dwarf French | Yes | Lovely plump, white bean for drying. Pods can also be eaten when young. | Organic Gardening Catalogue (£1.30) |
| Stop | May | Dwarf French | Yes | Small red beans. The dried beans are good in chilli | Organic Gardening Catalogue (£1.20) |
| Horsehead | May | Dwarf French | Yes | Can eat young pods. Beans good in chilli | Organic gardening Catalogue (£1.37) |
| Czar | Late May | Runner | Yes | A nice-flavoured runner bean. The dried beans can be used as butterbeans | Organic Gardening Catalogue (£1.46) |
| Barlotta Lingua di Fuoco | May | Climbing French | Yes | Eat pods fresh or dry beans and store. Pods are a very attractive red colour | Organic gardening Catalogue (£1.45) or from Thomas Etty Esq. (£1.10) |
| Blue Lake | May | Climbing French | Yes | Stringless pods of good flavour. Small white beans can be dried and used like haricots | Organic Gardening Catalogue (£0.90) or from Thomas Etty Esq. (£1.10) |
| Annabel | May | Dwarf French | No | A pencil slim and stringless 'haricot vert' | Organic Gardening Catalogue (£1.27) |
| Bird's Egg | May | Climbing French | Yes | Eat as young pods or dried beans. Excellent flavour. | Heritage Seed Library |
| Blue Coco | May | Climbing French | Yes | Violet attractive pods, lilac flowers, heavy cropper. Dried beans keep well | Heritage Seed Library |
| Caseknife | May | Climbing French | Yes | Productive, old variety. Dried beans good for use in salads and soups | Heritage Seed Library or from Thomas Etty Esq. (£1.45) |
| Coco Bicolour | May | Climbing French | Yes | Young green beans have a nice flavour. Dried beans good for use in casseroles | Heritage Seed Library |
| Jack Edward's | May | Climbing French | Yes | A typical pea bean with large seeds. Good flavour when pods eaten young, but can be stored | Heritage Seed Library |
| Lazy Housewife | May | Climbing French | Yes | Produces beans quickly. Eat as fresh pods, or dry and use in soups, stews | Heritage Seed Library |
| Oregon Giant | May | Climbing French | Yes | Huge stringless pods and delicious haricot beans | Heritage Seed Library |
| Pea Bean | May | Climbing French | Yes | Resistant to disease, tasty with ornamental yellow pods. Good for drying. | Heritage Seed Library or from Thomas Etty Esq. (£1.25) |
| Veitch's Climbing | May | Climbing French Bean | Yes | Good cropper with delicious green pods. Dry beans make a superior chilli bean | Heritage Seed Library |
| Brown Soldier | May | Dwarf French Bean | Yes | Good drying bean. (It's markings resemble a toy soldier!) Dried beans good for use in soups. Pods can be eaten when young. | Heritage Seed Library |
| Early Warwick | May | Dwarf French Bean | Yes | Reliable producer of beans for drying, but can also eat young green pods. Compact plant good for small gardens. | Heritage Seed Library |
| Ernie's Big Eye | May | Dwarf French | Yes | Good resistance to disease. Chunky beans for drying or eat as fresh, young pods | Heritage Seed Library |
| Hutterite Soup | May | Dwarf French | Yes | Excellent bean for making creamy soups. Needs no soaking before use. | Heritage Seed Library |
| Jersey | May | Dwarf French | Yes | Grown in the Channel Islands for generations. Yellow and red pods which can be eaten young, or allow to mature and dry the beans. | Heritage Seed Library |
| Navy Bean | May | Dwarf French | Yes | Good Yield. White beans of good flavour. Ideal for winter use. | Heritage Seed Library |
| Aquadulce Claudia | November/ early spring sowing | Broad | Yes | A hardy variety. Beans best eaten fresh after shelling, but can be dried. | Organic Gardening Catalogue (£1.15 or £1.93) Also available from Thomas Etty Esq. |
| The Sutton | March, or sow under cloches in the autumn | Broad | Yes | Best eaten fresh after shelling. | Organic Gardening Catalogue (£1.10 or £1.73) or from Thomas Etty Esq. |
| Crimson Flowered Broad Bean | March/possibly in autumn in warm areas | Broad | Probably! | Wonderful crimson velvet flowers. Compact, hardy plant. Heritage variety. | Future Foods & The Heritage Seed Library |
| Painted Lady | Late May | Runner | No | A wonderful runner bean to grow up a fence. Very attractive red and white flowers, loved by bees. | Organic Gardening Catalogue (£1.49) |
| Carlin | March/April | Pea | Yes | Eaten traditionally in the North of England on Carlin Sunday (the Sunday before Palm Sunday). Usually grown for drying but can be eaten as fresh peas. The lovely pink and lilac flowers would look nice growing up a trellis | Heritage Seed Library |
* Note: The last date for receiving seed orders at the Heritage Seed Library is the 3rd of March. Please note that anyone joining HSL after this date will only be able to order seeds out of the 2001 catalogue. Also you should be aware that the seeds offered in the HSL catalogue differ somewhat from year to year, due to growing out different proportions of the seeds in the library. Consequently, some of the legume seeds listed above may not be available in next year's catalogue. Sorry! The main purpose of the above table is really just to show you the incredible variety of beans and peas that can be successfully grown in the UK.
Drying Your Beans
Leave the beans to dry outside on the plants for as long as possible. But if they are still not properly dry by the end of the season, then when the weather turns bad pull up the plants and hang them up to finish drying in a warm, airy place - for example in your garden shed. You can also dry your legumes by spreading them out on trays and leaving them in a warm, airy place. I dried my own coquette and barlotta beans like this last year, but leave them in their pods if possible, as this will prevent flies from landing on your beans whilst they are drying! (Alternatively, try covering the podded, drying beans with pieces of old net curtain.) If you have large quantities of beans to dry at once, then you may wish to consider purchasing a Ghibli food drying cabinet which is available by mail order from the Organic Gardening Catalogue for £149.95. But as you can see, it isn't cheap! A cheaper alternative may be to use a dehydrator.
Using Your Beans
Dried organically-grown beans are a wonderful item to have in your store cupboard. However, if you intend to cook a lot of dried beans, then you will probably find investing in a pressure cooker worthwhile as beans generally take quite a while to cook by conventional methods.
Beans are a extremely versatile vegetable. Red kidney-like beans, for example, can be used in chillies and many types of dried beans are also ideal for use in warming winter soups, stews and casseroles. In addition dried beans can be soaked, cooked, pureed and made into dips and sandwich spreads. Or flavoured with chilli powder, reheated as refried beans and stuffed into taco shells. Homegrown haricot beans can be used to make delicious homemade baked beans and many types of cooked beans are wonderful when used cold in salads, either in a vinegrette dressing, or when mixed in with cold pasta shells (or shapes) or into a rice salad. I often use my beans in curries and they can also be used to make a very tasty bean scramble. Cooked, pureed soy beans make a wonderful stuffing for baked potatoes, especially when flavoured with a little garlic powder. Don't forget that many types of legumes can be sprouted (see the article on Sprouting for more information on which beans you can use). And finally Kathleen Jannaway, in her booklet Growing Your Own, recommends mixing well mashed peas or beans with yeast extract and oil to make 'cheese spread.'
The following bean recipes have all appeared in earlier editions of Vegan News. Why not try some of them out?
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