Flat dwellers can grow their own too

People living in the UK’s five million flats are being urged to get gardening and grow their own vegetables – in windowboxes on their windowsills.

According to the National Trust, there are some 600 acres of space for window boxes across the country, making it possible for householders with no garden or allotment to join the current trend for “growing your own”.

The available windowsill space could be used for vegetables and herbs including tomatoes, lettuce, beetroot, chard and rosemary.

The Trust, which is launching a campaign to encourage the conversion of windowsills to “vertical vegetable gardens”, believes it is a good way to address concerns about prices and sustainable food production.

Just two window boxes provide enough space to grow cheap – and very local – food for a meal, the organisation said.

The Window Food campaign is backed by Gizzi Erskine, chef and food writer, who is creating recipes which use ingredients grown on her flat’s windowsill.

She said: “I love cooking with fresh ingredients – it makes all the difference to the taste of the food and you can’t get fresher than picking straight from your own windowsill.

“Living in a flat, I never thought I could grow so much without a garden but my windowsills look pretty and are really productive.

“Hopefully I’ll never find a soggy supermarket bag of leftover lettuce at the bottom of my fridge again – everyone should give window food a go.”

The Window Food drive is part of the National Trust’s Food, Glorious Food campaign.

GROWING TIPS

Here are some tips for the best vegetables and herbs to grow and how to make them flourish:

• Cut-and-come-again lettuces and radishes.
• Pretty plants such as rainbow chard.
• Fragrant herbs including creeping rosemary.
• Root vegetables such as chard and beetroot.
• Would-be growers should pick the windowsills which get the most sun during the day to use for window boxes and take care not to water them too much.