Green Granny - growing your own fruit & vegetables

Green Granny - helping sustain the planet for our grandchildren

Many grandmothers take an active interest in cooking and take a pride in the ingredients that are used.  Growing your own vegetables is an extremely rewarding activity that can provide both health and global eco benefits.  In addition if you can get your grandchildren involved then this will help provide them with an excellent appreciation of nature as they grow up.

For the enthusiastic beginner gardener it is often worth focusing on growing some vegetables which are quick and easy to grow.  Examples are tomatoes, corn or blueberries.  The important focus is about giving your grandchild an understanding about how food is grown and ends up on your grandchild's plate.  It is amazing how many children do not have any understanding of where fruit and vegetables come from.

Children enjoy having their "own space", if possible it is therefore worth making a distinct area for your grandchildren to grow their fruit and vegetables.  If they are younger grandchildren it is also a good idea to let the grandchild decorate the area of land (eg with flags, a scarecrow, bells, old CDs to scare off the birds).

Growing your own fruit and vegetables also gives the "green granny" an opportunity to recycle household food waste, which can be composted to create nutrients which can be put back into the soil.  The passion for a focus on green issues is an important issue for all grandmothers to consider giving to their grandchildren, since the planet is delicate and needs our long-term care.

Excellent advice for enthusiastic grandmothers and grandchildren can be found at the UK Royal Horticultural Site http://www.rhs.org.uk/vegetables/ .  Alternatively there is a commercial USA site http://usagardener.com/ which is focused on growing vegetables in the USA and Canada.

The eco site "self sufficient ish" is a guide on trying to be self sufficient.  This site has some useful tips on growing your own vegetables in a more eco friendly manner.  The website can be found at http://www.selfsufficientish.com/ .