One of the great things about growing your own fruit and vegetables on an allotment is being able to control the conditions in which they are grown. The cost of organic vegetables at the supermarket is greatly above that of the other produce, so what better way to beat the recession than by growing your own organic fruit and vegetables!

Organic growth of vegetables requires excluding or strictly limiting the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, additives and genetically modified organisms. Instead techniques such as green manure, crop rotation, composting and biological pest control are used to maintain soil productivity and control pests and disease. The food industry that produces organic products is heavily regulated, and very distinct from private gardening.

“An organic farm, properly speaking, is not one that uses certain methods and substances and avoids others; it is a farm whose structure is formed in imitation of the structure of a natural system that has the integrity, the independence and the benign dependence of an organism”

says Wendell Berry in his book ‘The Gift of Good Land’. Organically grown produce is generally believed to be healthier and organically grown fruit and vegetables are believed to contain up to 40% more antioxidants that standard produce.