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'Grow Your Own' trend surges, but harvest knowledge fading, finds Gardeners' World survey

The number of British people growing their own fruit and veg has soared in 2011, but we are coming a cropper because of our lack of knowledge about when to harvest. These are some of the key findings of an ICM survey for Gardeners' World magazine marking Harvest Week (12-18 September).

With food prices soaring, the number of Brits joining the grow-your-own revolution has surged from 26% in 2010 to 42% this year, according to the poll of 2,000 Brits with 70% of growers citing ‘enjoyment’ as the main reason for growing their own; 57% said ‘saving money’ was the main incentive; and 53% stated it was to enjoy produce with ‘improved taste’. 

However the survey also found harvest celebrations at schools are waning, with more than half the UK population completely clueless about when 18 of the top 22 fruit and veg are in season.

Some of the other key findings were:

• Potatoes were the most popular veg grown this year (55%), followed by lettuce (49%) and carrots (43%).
• Tomatoes were the most popular fruit (61%), followed by strawberries (59%) and then apples (52%).
• Parents said only 44% of their children celebrated harvest at school, this contrasted with 74% who recalled marking it when they were young.
• Although 77% of growers’ ‘gluts’ were being shared with family and friends, 8% was being thrown away.
• The main reason for not growing our own was lack of outdoor space for increasingly urban dwelling Brits (43% of respondents cited this as the reason). 27% said it was too time consuming and 20% didn’t know how.
• The South West was the most grow-your-own friendly part of the country with 53% growing their own. The least was the North West with 34%.

Gardeners’ World magazine is launching a nationwide campaign to promote British home-grown produce, with the country's first Harvest Week (12-18 September). With more of us than ever growing our own food, the nation's favourite gardening magazine is calling on gardeners to celebrate and share their gluts with friends and neighbours by hosting seasonal harvest parties.

According to Adam Pasco, editor of Gardeners' World magazine: "We can see a remarkable rise in British people growing their own this year.

Despite this, there seems to be a real lack of knowledge of when things should be harvested. So Gardeners' World Magazine is launching Harvest Week to encourage and help the nation to get back in touch with the seasons and share the fruits of our labours with family and friends." 

The September issue of Gardeners' World magazine, on sale now, has a guide to storing home-grown produce and 20 recipe ideas to use up gluts, from the nation's favourite cooks and gardeners.

There is more information on Harvest Week at

Toby Hicks or Graham Clifford