What you
can do

Grow your own fruit and vegetables

Growing your own fruit and vegetables is a healthy, economical and fun way to cut your carbon footprint. You don’t even need a garden; a window box or a tub on a windowsill is enough to get you started, and before long you could be enjoying delicious home-grown flavours while saving money on herbs, seasonal veg and fresh fruits.

Gardening is a healthy and fun way for the whole family to get active together and it will also teach children where fresh seasonal produce comes from. As well as making a saving on your food bill, you’ll be helping to save the environment too.

Finding your plot
Spring into action

1. Finding your plot

In the home

Take an empty yoghurt pot, some earth and some seeds and you can start a herb garden on a windowsill. With a window box you could extend your range to lettuces; a small balcony and you’re in business with tomatoes!

In the garden

Even a small patch can produce barrow-loads of green beans and pounds of potatoes. If you love your flowers too much to lose them, plant your produce between the blooms. Or maybe a less green-fingered neighbour will let you use their garden in return for a share of the harvest?

Need more space?

Many towns and cities will have a community garden scheme, or try Landshare, which matches spare land to growers. You could even think about renting an allotment, especially now the National Trust is offering allotments on its land.

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2. Spring into action

Gardening is easy

Put the seeds in the ground, add water and soon your vegetable patch should be filling with great bunches of mouthwatering foods. For help in choosing what to put where and how to get the most from your garden, the Royal Horticultural Society has plenty of advice. The BBC is keen to green your fingers too.

Composting

Composting is the perfect way to cut CO₂ emissions while helping to get the most out of your garden. Your local council may help you get a composter, and then garden waste like grass cuttings and hedge trimmings can go on the compost heap rather than being taken to the dump. Vegetable waste from your kitchen, even organic matter like egg boxes, can all be composted, helping your garden grow while saving the greenhouse emissions than it takes to transport them to the landfill site.

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Carbon Calculator

Find out how much carbon dioxide you create and get a simple, personalised action plan to reduce your carbon footprint.

Buying food and drink

The average UK household spends £420 a year on food that could have been eaten but ends up being thrown away. What’s more, producing, transporting and consuming food is responsible for nearly a third of individuals’ contribution to climate change.