The importance of working alongside nature
Growing your own produce is one of the most rewarding experiences. With renewed interest in gardening in recent times and rising costs of living, there is much to gain by growing your favourite food and vegetables at home. As a company that provides sustainable horticultural products and growing accessories, at CoirProducts.co.uk, we also share inspiring journeys and experiences of other gardeners and growers. A member of our team recently got in touch with Joe Harrison (@Grow_With_Joe / growwithjoe.online), who shared with us some of the benefits of growing your own produce and also some insights on how to get started.
Joe showed interest in gardening early on, helping his grandfather tend to his fruits and vegetables. From there on, Joe’s love for gardening has only grown. Today, he enjoys gardening with his partner and three young kids, getting them involved in growing, and reaping the benefits that gardening brings.
As Joe emphasises, a key advantage of growing your own produce is that it allows you to be in charge of how that fruit or vegetable is nurtured. This helps you produce food that is safe and healthy not just for you, but also for the environment. “You know exactly how it was grown, maintained, and harvested,” Joe says. He goes on to add, “I am a huge advocate of working alongside nature rather than against it, so pesticides and chemicals are never used on our allotment.” For first-time gardeners who want to ensure they stay chemical-free in their gardens, Joe shares some insights, noting they use “lots of nets/barriers as a pesticide alternative” in their garden, as well as “a few munched holes in the odd leaf or root vegetable which is another tell-tale sign of a chemical free environment”.
Having spent so much of his childhood helping out in the garden, Joe was also determined to get his children involved in gardening too, allowing them to learn from nature. “It was really important to have [our children] involved from a young age, so they not only knew where their food comes from, but we could also teach them the skills and knowledge of how to grow it themselves too. Seeing them sow, grow, tend to, and then harvest and eat their own food makes me very happy indeed”.
Deciding what to grow is always a little tricky, especially with all the choices available. For Joe, “planning is key”. Joe explains how gardeners need to consider various factors, including assessing the space available, the layout of the growing area, and the way the sun reaches (or doesn’t reach) certain areas of the plot. After that, he says, “think about what you actually enjoy eating.” This can help both save time and money. In addition, he says, “it can be advantageous and save you money if you grow those things which tend to be more expensive to buy in shops, like asparagus and raspberries.”
With their allotment site only metres away from their home, Joe finds himself spending a lot of his free time in the garden. He would also often tend to his plot during lunchtime on work days. Spending time in nature and enjoying the food they’ve grown has not only been hugely beneficial to him, but also rewarding. Joe reflects on these experiences, noting what a privilege it is to spend time in nature, “It doesn’t matter how many seeds I’ve sown over the years, I still can’t help but smile when I see those first signs of life poking through the soil. There really is nothing more satisfying than sitting down to eat a meal with your family who are enjoying food you’ve grown from seed. Being surrounded with and working alongside nature is such a privilege and something I never take for granted. It’s so good for your physical and mental health and never fails to lift my mood when I’m feeling a little down or I’ve had a stressful day at work. I can not recommend this incredible pastime highly enough!”