Abingdon Living Jul - Aug 2022
Summer is here – we’ve got an issue filled with sunshine! We’ve interviewed French chef Raymond Blanc, got some delicious recipes and are looking at all the ways to transform the home and garden in a few easy steps.
Summer is here – we’ve got an issue filled with sunshine! We’ve interviewed French chef Raymond Blanc, got some delicious recipes and are looking at all the ways to transform the home and garden in a few easy steps.
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GROW FOR<br />
Gold<br />
In this edition, our regular<br />
contributor Matt Biggs gives us advice<br />
on how growing your own can be both<br />
cost effective and rewarding...<br />
With prices rising and evidence of some<br />
empty shelves in the shops, now might<br />
be the time for a little bit of ‘Dig for<br />
Victory’ spirit!<br />
There are so many ways of adding to<br />
your food options, from a few radishes to<br />
add some peppery perk to your salads to<br />
courgettes, beetroot, peas, Japanese and<br />
Chinese salad leaves, tomatoes and, of<br />
course, the humble spud!<br />
Even if you have no space, balconies,<br />
hanging baskets and even windowsills<br />
can host something edible from chilli<br />
plants and herbs to hanging tomatoes<br />
- and there is nothing like picking your<br />
own home grown produce and taking<br />
it straight to the kitchen. Many local<br />
Colleges offer short courses to help you<br />
get started, there are books, videos, TV<br />
programmes and your local garden club<br />
- all there to get your growing energies<br />
into gear.<br />
As well as the physical activity involved<br />
in preparing the ground and hoeing and<br />
weeding there is a mental benefit too<br />
and this is becoming more and more<br />
recognised as we rush from work to shop<br />
to home - a little time spent in the open<br />
air with the birds in the background is<br />
very beneficial and if you join a gardening<br />
club there is a social side too, as there is<br />
in having an allotment and sharing both<br />
gardening knowledge and produce.<br />
Children too can join in - an easy to grow<br />
packet of seeds and a large pot or a<br />
patch of earth and off they go - and there<br />
is a lot of learning in a packet of seeds,<br />
from biology to botany, the maths of<br />
sowing and spacing, the responsibility of<br />
being in charge of something, watering<br />
and weeding and then the joy of sharing<br />
what is grown - it is win, win all the way,<br />
and if the odd slug or snail comes along,<br />
they too have a place!<br />
To find out more about Matt visit his<br />
website matthewbiggs.com<br />
22 | www.minervamagazines.co.uk