Growing vegetables from seed is a great way to source plants for your garden and veg patch. It costs almost nothing and you can stagger the planting to get a crop that runs for weeks. In May I bought a packet of lettuce leaves for £1.20 and have planted these into the ground at two week intervals. I now have rows of salad leaves that I pick whenever I need them for the same as the cost of just one bag of lettuce from the supermarket . The taste is wonderfully fresh and my carbon miles are also kept low. Apparently sales of vegetable seeds are up 60% in the last year. This is supposed to be because of the credit crunch but it could be due our changing seasons which now offer the chance to grow more vegetables over a longer season. http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/gardens/story/0,,2275408,00.html

Most vegetables are short-lived annual crops offering adventurous gardeners the chance to respond to changing growing conditions almost immediately. Longer growing seasons suit sun-loving crops such as sweet corn, aubergines, sweet peppers chillis and outdoor cucumbers - but remember you need adequate water , ideally harvested from the rain that falls in your garden. With warmer months from March to April and October to November many kitchen garden plants can also grow without cloches or fleece covers.

I love the range of overseas seed varities that are now available.Seeds of Italy has more than 500 Mediterranean vegetables, many of them heirloom or regional cultivars new to the UK http://www.seedsofitaly.com .

Tozer Seeds breeds specifically for UK conditions, and trials cultivar from the Mediterranean. They offer an increasingly large range of sweet corn, and have seen a huge increase in the popularity of their ever-widening range of chili peppers. Their new butternut squashes ‘Hunter’ and ‘Harrier’ were bred to ripen fully in UK conditions.http://www.tozerseeds.com/

Watching seeds grow is a great experience for children. I am very lucky to have two young gardeners from across the road who are always keen to help. Frederica, age 10 and Eliza age 8, tackle digging up stones, sowing seeds, watering and weeding the veg patch with such enthusiasm. - although their favourite job does seems to be picking the snails and slugs from the lettuces and feeding them to the birds!

It is wonderful to see children involved in gardening. After 4 hours hard digging both Frederica and Eliza announced that it was addictive and could they come back tomorrow - how brilliant is that!

Getting their hands dirty in the soil helps children to nurture an appreciation and understanding of nature. There is a great book called The Playground Potting Shed by Dominic Murphy which suggests gardening activities for children http://www.bookrabbit.com/catalogue/detail/bookid/3349753 .

I am really keen to encourage a nation of young gardeners as they are the generation that will have to deal with the reality of climate change in the garden.Digging up snails will be the least of their problems in 50 years time!


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