As part of our ongoing quest to grow as much of our own produce as possible in a garden-less London flat I recently adventured past the herb/tomato/salad stage and tried out a mushroom growing kit – oyster mushrooms – not the magic ones!
It had actually been sat in the pantry for the past couple of months until the other week when I went at it with the knife as per the instructions!  Not expecting much to happen, it was a pleasant surprise to see a bumper crop spring up within a few days and a delicious breakfast of oyster mushrooms on toast followed….very yummy!

It’s gone a little quiet since then though on the mushroom front – a second crop was promised in the instructions but nothing so far which is a little disappointing and expensive given the £10 cost.  Having read up a little today it looks as though I may have cut the mushrooms a little late – which dries out the substrate apparently.  I did a little googling and was surprised to come across this article mentioning some findings by Which? magazine.  Their testers had varying degrees of success, most reporting low yields similar to mine and the editor concluding the kits were a lot more expensive than buying mushrooms from the shops.

Ho hum… so perhaps not everything is suited for growing at home but I think it’s important to report the bad and the good.  On a brighter note our herbs have all got off to a good start this year and I’m being adventurous in other ways trying out some red pepper and pea seeds which have just sprouted seedlings in the last few days.  It’s still not too late to have a go yourself and if you need any help check out the Paper Potter which is the perfect little tool to get going with!

I believe people fall broadly into two categories, the Delia camp who enjoy a tin of mystery meat warmed in the oven and smeared with piles of frozen ready made mashed potatoes or the Jamie camp; the rustic Mediterranean diet with fresh flavours enhanced by a generous quantity of tasty herbs.  Sensing a little bias perhaps?
As a Jamie follower, I’ve become increasingly concerned by the quantity of herbs we’ve been using to cook up these tasty extravaganzas and the effect their transportation might be having on the environment.

Over the last 10 years in the UK our consumption of lettuce, tomatoes, aubergines, peppers and cucumbers grew by 22% and a 2005 Defra study found UK grown tomatoes resulted in three times as many CO2 emssions as tomatoes imported from Spain.

The great food debate is a complicated one and I’m not sure how to personally address the issue in the winter months aside from avoiding the foods I love but now that we’re heading into Spring I’ve hatched up ‘The Great Herb Self-Sufficiency Plan’ in an attempt to reduce our own personal emissions from food miles. Being city dwellers our space is very limited but we are lucky enough to have a small roof terrace which will be home to a myriad of exotic herbs in the coming months.  The plan is simple, grow every herb you ever need to cook with and never buy one from the shops again or until November at least!
I’ve just planted around twelve different varities as well as tomatoes, courgettes and chillies so hopefully in the next couple of months we’ll be on the road to a little self-sufficiency.

FYI…a packet of basil seeds will set you back as little as 99p and will provide enough basil plants to last through till Autumn. A packet of fresh basil from the supermarket , enough for a couple of meals and with its obligatory plastic packaging comes in at around £1.

If you want to find out more about the benefits of self-sufficiency check out Eco Worriers latest blog entry here.