The good life: give growing your own veg a go

The taste of a humble, homegrown spud has the power to change lives – just ask Mark Diacono. The award-winning food writer was no gardener at the time, but he planted potatoes simply to keep up with his gardening wife.

After one bite of his freshly harvested early potatoes, however, he was converted.

"They were nutty, buttery... absolutely delicious. I’d never tasted anything like it," he recalls.

Growing your own food is one of the fundamentals of life, as rewarding as it is important

"I learned in that moment that there are some flavours you get only when you grow your own food."

Following that revelation, he left work as an environmental consultant to set up his own smallholding, focused on flavour  – and to join Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall at River Cottage, running its veg garden.

He’s since written more than a dozen food and gardening books, and attracted famous followers, including chefs Yotam Ottolenghi and Angela Hartnett.

"Growing your own food is one of the fundamentals of life, as rewarding as it is important," he believes. "I love eating mulberries and Good King Henry, plumcots [plum/apricot hybrids] and so many other crops that don’t suit our supermarket system. But it’s more than that. You feel part of a wider world, of being alive on the planet, the movement of the seasons. And you get to eat extraordinary food."

There are as many reasons to start growing your own food as there are crops you can grow, and September is a good time to catalogue the benefits.

As the month of peak harvest, you could be enjoying the intense flavours of tomatoes and chillies unlike any you find in shops; gathering French and runner beans, multi-coloured chard, courgettes and squash, fennel, leafy veg and salads; plus more herbs than any grocer can stock, and handfuls of the freshest fruit.

Scientific research has established clear links between gardening and our health

Then there’s the nutritional benefit of crops harvested at their best and eaten within hours of picking, with the gain for the environment of food metres not miles.

Now consider the hidden benefits. Scientific research has established clear links between gardening and our health, including improved diet and gut-health, lower stress and greater happiness from a deeper connection with nature.

Most significant may be the latest research from the University of Edinburgh, showing gardening to be one of the secrets to staying sharp in later life, due to its mix of creativity, forward planning and ongoing learning.

For smallholder and teacher Sara Ward, her interest started more than 20 years ago, with worries about the origins of the food she was feeding her family.

She left behind a City career to try her hand at self-sufficiency in her London garden, growing kilos of veg and raising chickens, but the intangible rewards became as important.

"Down on the plot, I’m in the moment, fingers in the soil, enjoying the sun on my back and completely immersed – but also engaging with something bigger," she says. "Growing food is without doubt the path to a good life – being outside, engaging with nature and appreciating a slower pace in our busy lives."

The best way to get started is to aim small, with a few things produced well

From her experiences of living off the land, she founded Hen Corner to teach the practical skills of modern self-sufficiency, from how to grow food in even the smallest space, to kitchen essentials such as pickling and preserving.

"You can’t afford to waste it after putting in so much effort," she says.

While September marks the end of the summer harvest season, it’s also time to prepare for next year. Both Mark and Sara agree that the best way to get started is to aim small, with a few things produced well. It’s obvious, they say, but grow only what you want to eat – you can easily buy standard fare such as onions and maincrop carrots cheaply.

If you are short on space and time, perennials are the answer, planted soon, into warm autumn soil. "The most important step you can take is growing for flavour not volume, and always prioritise 'the transformers'," says Mark.

"Start with perennial herbs: you can change every meal you eat with six well-chosen herbs in pots by the back door – including ginger rosemary, lemon verbena, Moroccan mint, lemon thyme."

Sara’s perennial choices are rhubarb – long cropping and versatile in sweet and savoury dishes – and asparagus, because the flavour of home-picked is unlike anything you can buy.

To gather good things to eat in the harder months of winter is so rewarding and the closest thing to a free lunch

She also takes as much pleasure from the flavours of autumn and winter, though the plants can be more demanding, she admits.

"Winter veg may need more space and time to grow but look at what you can produce – the leeks, kales and purple sprouting broccolis that are so beautiful and delicious at a time of year when other parts of the garden are fading away. To gather good things to eat in the harder months of winter is so rewarding and the closest thing to a free lunch!"