Gardening to Eat: Connecting People and Plants

By Becky Dickinson

Learn how to grow your own fruits and vegetables and transform them into delicious meals with this gardening guide and cookbook.

Embrace a plant-based lifestyle all the way from seed to plate. This inspiring and informative book takes the mystery out of gardening and reveals how to grow an array of fruits and vegetables using simple, organic techniques.

Packed with fresh ideas for turning home-grown produce into delicious, nutritious meals, you’ll find heaps of no-nonsense recipes created for real people with busy lives and healthy appetites. No fads, no fuss, no fancy ingredients, just real, honest, ethical food.

With a passion for connecting people and plants, Gardening to Eat brings the garden into the kitchen. For people who love food and love to know where it’s come from.

Praise for Gardening to Eat

“A superbly illustrated book crammed with recipes, and although there’s no index, it doesn’t really matter because this is the kind of book you like to wander through, encountering the recipes as you go.” —Books Monthly

“This inspiring book is packed with fresh ideas for turning home grown produce in to delicious, nutritious meal. The author takes fruit and veg, whether it’s cauliflower, strawberries, spinach or peas, gives a comprehensive outline of how and when to plant and pick them and complements this with recipes, such as pea and feta parcels, or cauliflower and spinach curry.” —Countryside Magazine

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: May 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9781526757210

Becky Dickinson

Becky Dickinson is a freelance journalist who writes for national newspapers and magazines and runs the website allotmentmum.co.uk. She has also written a number of children's books for schools. She is passionate about the benefits of gardening, both for physical health and mental wellbeing, and is dedicated to encouraging people of all ages to grow some of their own food. She lives in Devon with her partner and three children, and an army of slugs she's determined to defeat. @allotmentmum www.allotmentmum.co.uk

Book preview

Gardening to EAT

Gardening to EAT

CONNECTING PEOPLE and PLANTS

Becky Dickinson

First published in Great Britain in 2021 by

White Owl

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire - Philadelphia

Copyright © Becky Dickinson, 2021

ISBN 978 1 52675 720 3

eISBN 978 1 52675 720 3

Mobi ISBN 978 1 52675 720 3

The right of Becky Dickinson to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

SJmagic DESIGN SERVICES, India.

Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the Imprints of Pen & Sword Books Archaeology, Atlas, Aviation, Battleground, Discovery, Family History, History, Maritime, Military, Naval, Politics, Railways, Select, Transport, True Crime, Fiction, Frontline Books, Leo Cooper, Praetorian Press, Seaforth Publishing, Wharncliffe and White Owl.

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or

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Contents

PART I

Introduction

Why grow food?

Better for the environment

Better for the body

Better for the mind

Better for life

And eat!

Ready, steady, grow – the basics of gardening

Overcoming barriers to gardening

Deciding what to grow

Location, location, location – planning your space

Greenhouses and polytunnels

Growing organically – naturally better

Composting – turning trash into treasure

Spades down – the no dig theory of gardening

Companion planting – flowers with benefits

Crop rotation – keep on moving

Pest control – without the death penalty

PART II

Grow and eat – vegetables and fruit

GROW: Beans, French / Green

EAT: Thai green bean curry

Spice and easy five-a-day rice

GROW: Beetroot

EAT: Beetroot burgers with horseradish sauce

Beetroot dahl

GROW: Blackcurrants

EAT: Berry ‘nice cream’

GROW: Blueberries

EAT: Yoghurt and blueberry pancakes

Easy-squeezy lemon and blueberry cheesecake

GROW: Broad Beans

EAT: Lemony gnocchi with broad beans and chimichurri sauce

Broad bean salad with feta, mint and olives

GROW: Broccoli

EAT: Sprouting broccoli tray bake with parsley pesto

Broccoli panzanella

GROW: Cabbage

EAT: Cabbage ‘noodle’ pad Thai

Pizzoccheri

Cabbage melt

GROW: Carrots

EAT: Roast carrots with lentils and a soy dressing

Carrot and poppy seed cake with candied orange

GROW: Cauliflower

EAT: Cauliflower and spinach curry

Cauliflower nuggets with home-made garlic mayo

GROW: Chard

EAT: Chard and potato gratin

Chard and squash galette

GROW: Courgettes

EAT: Sunshine ratatouille

Sun-dried courgettes with a garlic and mint marinade

GROW: Garlic

EAT: Spaghetti aglio, olio e pepperoncino (spaghetti with garlic, oil and chilli)

Twisted garlic bread

GROW: Kale

EAT: Lovely lentils with kale

Wilted kale with chickpeas, rice and a tahini dressing

GROW: Leeks

EAT: Pizza bianca with leek and mushrooms

Pearl barley risotto with leeks

GROW: Onions and shallots

EAT: Cheese and spring onion tart

The ultimate cheese and onion wrap with sweet chilli sauce

GROW: Parsnips

EAT: Parsnip and portobello fake au vin

Parsnip hummus

Slightly spiced parsnip crisps

GROW: Peas

EAT: Pea and feta parcels

Pea and ricotta tagliatelle

GROW: Potatoes

EAT: Next level potato salad with caramelised red onions

Garlic and rosemary potato rostis

GROW: Raspberries

EAT: Raspberry granola pots with lemon balm

GROW: Rhubarb

EAT: Rhubarb, orange and lemon drizzle cake

Rhubarb gin

GROW: Salad

EAT: Warm roast beetroot and mackerel salad

Caesar salad with crispy chickpeas

GROW: Spinach

EAT: Superfast spinach, chickpea and peanut butter curry

Very green soup with toasted pine nuts

GROW: Squash and pumpkins

EAT: Fiery squash and quinoa tray bake

Squash and stilton crumble

GROW: Strawberries

EAT: Strawberry and almond roulade

GROW: Sweetcorn

EAT: Brazilian inspired sweetcorn and black bean stew

Smokey sweetcorn fritters with sweetcorn salsa

GROW: Tomatoes

EAT: Gardener’s gazpacho

Honey I shrunk the caprese

PART 1

Introduction

Why grow food?

What better reason to garden, than to eat? And what better reason to eat, than because you’ve grown it yourself? Whether you have a sprawling plot, a small back yard, or a few containers, growing your own food will bring you huge amounts of pleasure and an abundance of incredible things to eat, regardless of time and experience.

If you’ve ever eaten a sun-warmed strawberry, or a tomato straight from the vine, you will know that homegrown, organic food tastes ludicrously better than anything you can buy in the shops. It’s also far healthier, since the smaller the gap between picking and eating, the less time there is for nutrients to leach away. Plus, if you stick to natural growing methods rather than relying on synthetic fertilisers and chemical pesticides, there’s no need to worry about what else you’re getting with your five (or ten) a day.

In essence, growing your own food will help you to eat better and feel better. It’s also a great way to connect with nature, switch off from the cacophony of life, and even reduce your shopping bills. Once you start growing food to eat you won’t be able to stop, it soon becomes something of an obsession, resulting in a healthy habit for life.

Better for the environment

Flavour, health and enjoyment are just part of the story. Increasingly, growing and eating your own food isn’t just about providing fresh, nutritious, ingredients for the table. It’s also about protecting the planet from environmental sabotage. It’s about standing up to the intensive, modern farming methods that are wreaking havoc on the earth. Practices that are quite literally sucking the life out of the soil like an underground, unseen, deforestation. Every carrot you grow yourself is one less carrot grown at the expense of the planet and the life it sustains. And if enough people grow enough carrots – or strawberries, or lettuces, or cauliflowers, or blueberries – it may just make a difference.

To illustrate the urgency of this; insects are currently disappearing at a terrifying and unprecedented rate around the world. The latest research shows that more than forty per cent of all species are declining and a third are endangered. The destruction may not be as visible as that of the rainforests, but the wanton use of toxic chemicals and the loss of natural habitats constitute no less of a brutal and unjustifiable war on wildlife. The consequences of this for the natural world are potentially catastrophic. Without insects, whole ecosystems are in danger of collapsing; pollination levels will plummet and food production will fail, and ultimately, so too will life as we know it.

Of course, action needs to happen at a global and political level, but we can all make a difference by growing some of our own food without the use of unnecessary chemicals. Besides the benefits of having a supply of fresh, healthy veg, homegrown food also helps lower the demand for mass-produced crops that rely on pesticides, insecticides and fertilisers. Every carrot really does count. What’s more, by eating seasonally and locally we can slash our carbon footprint by reducing or even eliminating the consumption of products that have travelled half way round the world. The fact that we can eat whatever we like, whenever we want, doesn’t mean that we should. Even if it is trending on Instagram.

In the modern era of so-called well-being then, perhaps it’s time to stop obsessing over avocados and coconut oil, and start focussing on the fruits and vegetables we can grow ourselves – organically, ethically, seasonally and sustainably. This doesn’t mean turning your back on the modern world; if you want to share your gardening successes on social media, go for it, you never know who else might be inspired to follow. The reality is that few people have the capacity to become fully self-sufficient (although there’s no harm in trying if you have the time and resources). But if as many of us as possible grew at least a little of our own food, whether a few rows of beans, a couple of courgette plants, a window box full of salad, a tub of tomatoes or just a few pots of herbs, it could have a huge impact on the environment. Because in the end, it’s the small changes made by biggest number of people that have the potential to make the greatest difference. Those carrots all add up. And you can find out how easy they are to grow in the next section, along with loads of other brilliant crops.

Only a couple of generations ago, gardening to eat would have been second nature; it wasn’t aspirational, or idealistic, or revolutionary, it was just part of life. And it’s as simple and achievable now as it was then. The only difference is that in the current era of climate crisis and disappearing insect populations, it’s more necessary than ever. Gardening is no longer just about growing food to eat, it could be a matter of environmental survival.

Better for the body

In addition to the environmental benefits, gardening to eat is one of the best things you can do for your own health. It’s a win-win situation, since eating piles of fresh, organic, homegrown fruit and veg can significantly reduce the risk of many of the diseases that are now horribly common in the developed world, including: diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and many types of cancer. And of course, there’s all that fresh air and exercise that comes with gardening too – just mind your back!

Furthermore, there is increasing evidence that a plant-based diet is essential for gut health and this in turn plays a vital role in our overall health, affecting everything from mental well-being to blood sugar levels, immune system, and even our appetite. This is because our general health is strongly influenced by our gut microbiome – the trillions of bacteria, viruses and yeasts that exist together inside our digestive tract. These micro-organisms thrive on plant fibre and the more of it, the better. In one study called The American Gut Project, the gut microbiomes of over 11,000 people around the world were analysed. It was found that those who ate the largest and most diverse array of plants had the healthiest microbiomes.

Eating plenty of veg has also been linked to a longer life. The Seventh Day Adventist community in Loma Linda, California for example, who eat a predominantly plant-based diet, have been shown to be one of the healthiest populations in the world, living up to ten years longer than people in neighbouring omnivore populations. Of course, other lifestyle factors are also important, but there is strong evidence to suggest that a wholefood, plant-based diet is the healthiest diet you can possibly eat, regardless of religious persuasion. And when those plants are homegrown, you can be even more confident of the benefits.

That’s because when you grow your own fruit and