Healthy food tips! Grow your own in '09

Did you know most families spend around $30 a week on fruit and vegetables? That’s more than $1500 a year! So why not save your hard-earned cash and help your health by growing your very own vegie patch? Think it’s too hard basket? Not true! Harvey Baker-Dowdell has started his very own vegie patch business so all the work is done for you!

Mygreenpatch is a new DIY produce patch business to help Australians grow some of their own food, reap the health benefits from eating untreated and ripe produce; and save money in the process.

“I was sick of buying tasteless tomatoes that were pink instead of the ripe red they should be, and I couldn’t believe it when broccoli was $8 a kilo at my local Woolworths,” says Harvey. “I knew I could do better and started a small vegetable patch in my backyard. Soon my thumbs were greener and I wanted to expand my patch to grow everything I could, from tomatoes, broccoli and cauliflower to pumpkins, rhubarb and passionfruit.

“It was such a thrill harvesting my own produce as we needed it and when I talked to friends about what I was doing they all said they wanted to grow their own fruit and vegetables too, but didn’t have space or time. That got me thinking and I started working on plans for three different produce patches – one to suit everyone, whether they lived on an acreage or in an apartment” he said.

Now mygreenpatch offers three patch sizes: myproducepatch (2400x1200mm), mystarterpatch (1200x600mm) and myherbpatch/mykidspatch (600x600mm) to suit backyard or veranda gardens. Each kit comes with timber, soil, tools, instructions and seedlings – everything needed to get started growing your own produce. Prices start from $250 including delivery.

“What better feeling is there, than going outside on a summer evening and picking the basic salad ingredients from your own produce patch?” Harvey asked. It’s also a great idea for the kids. “My two-year-old son loves helping me plant the seedlings, water our patches, pick snow peas and dig up potatoes. He will grow up eating organic produce we have grown ourselves and I can see he’ll want his own patch soon,” Harvey says.

The website, www.mygreenpatch.com.au , is constantly being updated with news on what to plant when, Harvey’s blog and The Allotment – a community-based forum where mygreenpatch users can compare notes, swap seeds, solve pest problems and much more.

Want to grow your own vegie patch? Here are Harvey’s top tips for getting started:

* Soil – Soil nutrition is imperative for a good vegie garden. Just get some blood and bone blood and bone (organic fertiliser) from your local nursery and sprinkle them on every two to three weeks. It feeds the soil because every time you dig soil up it takes nutrients out. Sugar cane mulch is also great for soil.
* Water - Watering the patch twice a day waters, at the roots not the leaves will keep the vegies moist and nourished.
* Shade cloth - The sun can be strong in Australia which can make it hard for young seedlings to survive so a shade cloth can be a great way to keep them cool.
*Blog - My blog is full of tips on what to grow when and the things I have learnt from my experience growing vegetables. Take a read before you start for some inspiration and useful advice.
*Start simple - Start with the things that are easiest to grow like tomato, lettuce, potatoes, raddish, pumpkin and sweet corn. They all have larger seeds which are easier to manage. Lettuce and spinach grow within three to four weeks as well so you’ll start to see the fruits of your labour in no time at all.

For more advice or to order a DIY pack, visit www.mygreenpatch.com.au