The lazy gardener’s guide to growing your own food.

It really is super easy to grow your own food. Event when you’re a lazy gardener like me!

I'm always growing at least one edible plant. But I don't fertilise, I don't deter bugs, I don't test the soil pH - I don't even get the sun-to-shade ratio right a lot of the time.

But still, things thrive. And sometimes they don't. I've killed mint and succulents before - both notoriously hard-to-kill plants.

In the effort to reward ratio, pumpkin and sweet potato have been the best so far.

They both crawl along the ground, so having space is a plus - but they are just not discouraged by anything. Not by too much rain, not by the huge grasshoppers eating their leaves.

The pumpkins originally sprouted from the compost… whoops! And I read sweet potato can’t be re-planted where it’s grown before - proved that wrong too!

I told you: lazy.

Compost is the best thing about the garden. I started the compost bin as a solution to kitchen scrap waste (everything from fruit and veg to egg shells, dog fur and vacuum cleaner dust goes in it), and the bonus has been nutrient-rich soil that can feed the veggies.

It breaks down quickly if you get the balance right. I'm not going to teach you that here coz I'm not even sure I've got it right! I highly recommend a good Google.

Growing food from scraps

Potatoes and onions sprouted in the cupboard? Chopped the bottom off a celery? These can all be re-grown from bits you already have!

What do you grow? What can you simply not kill, and what has gone horribly wrong? It's all a trial and error process - and it doesn't take much time to get something going.

Start with a backyard or patio compost bin or worm farm, and the garden's your oyster.