Planting seeds of change for a bright future
Lifestyle - More people than ever took up gardening during the lockdown of Spring 2020. Now, organic champion Klaus Laitenberger has written a new book designed for those who want to become self-sufficient in growing vegetables and fruit. Feeding a family takes only a small amount of land and the returns are enormous in many ways, as he explains to JUDY MURPHY.
These are the days when, according to the poets, young men’s fancies (and women’s too, for gender equality!) lightly turn to thoughts of love. But with our current restrictions, unless you’re already safely bubbled up in your love nest, it’d be better to focus the mind elsewhere.
Spring is also the time when gardeners get a glint in their eyes and if you haven’t already embraced the idea of growing your own fruit and vegetables, now is the perfect time.
For those who have already dipped their toe in the soil and want further adventures, a new book by the hugely regarded organic farmer and lecturer, Klaus Laitenberger, has just hit the shelves.
The Self-Sufficient Garden is a comprehensive guide to growing enough vegetables and fruit to feed a family of four all through the year. According to Klaus – who knows his onions – you don’t need a whole lot of land to do this. In fact, a family of four eager vegetable eaters could be totally self-sufficient on 400 square metres, although that requires a polytunnel. That’s one of three options he offers in the book – the other two focus on growing outdoors and being partially sufficient.
But the modest requirement of 400 square metres (about 1/10 of an acre) shows how easily Ireland could feed itself if we went down that route, he says. On those figures, one acre could feed 10 families or 25 families per hectare and just Rosiner(?) 50,000 hectares could provide vegetables for five million people – which is only a fraction of the land in Ireland.
“People are being drawn back to the land,” says German-born Klaus, who in normal times, gives lectures and talks on organic farming all over the country. “Gardening was a handy distraction during lockdown but many will stick with it.”
This is a development that Klaus, who has been living in Ireland for more than 20 years, welcomes.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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