Whilst this may be utopia, the truth is that for many of us, our addiction to consumerism makes true self-sufficiency impossible. Even so, with the worldly turmoil surrounding us our renewed interest in self-sufficiency is perhaps driven by our human instinct to know that we can rely on our own means to help us withstand not just one pandemic, but any other future shocks to our fragile food supply chain.
As we face an unprecedented global crisis with nature and climate change, the path to selfsufficiency is no longer about being sustainable, it’s about being regenerative.
Regenerative agriculture is a rapidly growing buzzword of a very specific food revolution, a revolution that aims to rebuild soil health and overall biodiversity with minimal inputs, resulting in nutrient-dense food grown in a truly sustainable way. Regenerative farmers avoid tilling so that they protect the community of soil micro-organisms, the water-storing pores they create underground and the carbon they’ve stashed there. They encourage plant diversity and plant cover that mimics nature in their fields while farm animals polish off the residue crops. Since these methods build soil, crowd out weeds and retain moisture, there’s no need for costly fertilisers or herbicides.
ON YOUR PLOT
Esta historia es de la edición November 2020 de Kitchen Garden.
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Esta historia es de la edición November 2020 de Kitchen Garden.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
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EASY DOES IT!
As the growing season gathers pace there's one thing often in short supply: time! Ever feel like you're chasing your tail? Benedict Vanheems offers some tips to save valuable time and effort
A NEW Kitchen garden!
It's time for sowing and planting in the new garden and while Martin is busy with that, Jill is making a tasty asparagus soup
OUR PLOTTER OF THE MONTH
Kitchen Garden readers rose to the challenge when we asked for pictures of their plots to appear in the magazine this year. It's time to meet another of our talented competition winners
MANAGING WEEDS, NATURALLY
Weeds are never far away but you can keep them at bay without recourse to weedkillers
Meet the apple doctor
KG editor Steve Ott chats to Glyn Smith, head gardener for the National Trust's Erddig estate in Wrexham, about his career and love of the garden he has tended for 38 years
A CORNUCOPIA OF COURGETTES
It's time to sow a first batch of tender crops such as courgettes for picking through the summer months. KG editor Steve Ott has some tips for a super harvest
FLAVOURSOME FRUIT CURRANTS
you If I want to plant some soft fruit that is easy to grow and will give you plenty of flavour, how about trying currants?
TRY AMARANTH! The dual-purpose veg
Garden Organic's research manager Anton Rosenfeld extols the virtues of amaranth and how to grow it
A SPACE APART
Instagrammer James Martin shares his love of gardening and how much it has helped him and his family both mentally and physically under very difficult circumstances
HITTING THE SWEET SPOT
Welcome to the wonderful world of sweetcorn as Rob Smith takes a look at both old and newer varieties, with some growing advice too