Yes. Growing your own food is healthier and tastier for you. Whatever you grow, from salad in pots to herbs on the window sill, your food goes from plant to plate without any packaging waste or carbon emissions from food miles.
There is a lot of debate about the health benefits of organic food. But by growing your own, you choose what chemicals do or don't go on your food.
No, not at all. You'll be surprised how little space you need to start growing your own. You can put containers on a balcony, grow herbs on a window sill or place plant pots in your front porch. What about sharing some communal space and gardening time with your neighbours?
Gardening is good exercise and is known to calm the mind too. Fresh food is healthy for you and there's none fresher than from your own garden. Kids love getting their hands dirty, being involved in growing their own might get them eating more fruit and veg too.
B&Q has joined forces with Suttons Seeds to provide a huge range of 'grow you own' seeds online.
- Make a start
For you: Start easy and small by growing herbs or salad leaves on a sunny windowsill. Then move onto pots or a larger veggie patch.
For the planet: No need to buy plastic plant pots, you can make your own herb planters from rolled up newspaper or reused plastic drinks bottles, saving on money and landfill. - Potato patio planters
For you: Patio planters are great if you don't have much space. So, you don't need a big garden to enjoy home grown spuds.
For the planet: You can encourage plant diversity by trying out rare heirloom varieties of potato that you can't find in the supermarket. - Use the front garden
For you: Fruit and veg can be decorative and edible, boost your harvest by using your front garden and the back.
For the planet: Choose decorative edible plants for native wildlife and you. Rosemary not only tastes and smells delicious, it's wonderful for attracting bees to your garden. - Get the kids involved
For you: Getting kids gardening is a great family activity, let them have their own veg patch and choose what produce to grow.
For the planet: Gardening is a skill for life. Giving kids an understanding of how their food is grown will set them up to take better care of the world they are growing up in. - Be a good neighbour
For you: If you or your neighbour are just starting out, why not share tips on what grows well in your area?
For the planet: Growing your own can be a great group activity, using communal land as a productive garden improves your local environment and creates a sense of community. - Food for all seasons
For you: Enjoy your produce out of season by freezing it. It's easy to make lots of tomato sauce in summer, freeze and enjoy it throughout the year.
For the planet: When you run out of freezer space, reduce food miles by eating seasonally and shopping locally. That way food doesn’t travel so far to your table.
Closing date for entries is 22 July 2011.
Every year in the UK we throw away £12 billion worth of food which could have been eaten.
Love Food Hate Waste is a campaign from WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) and has lots tasty recipes and top tips to help us make the most of the food we buy.
http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/ 
