More and More People Turn to Growing Their Own Food.

The rising cost of food and increased amount of time spent at home has lead to more and more people taking up gardening. Specifically gardening to grow food. High energy costs and the war in Ukraine has caused the price of things like, meat, cheese, eggs and frozen vegetables to increase dramatically.

A survey carried out by price comparison website comparethemarket.com found that 44% of people with gardens, patios, balcanys or allotments are now growing their own food.

A bank in the United States predicted that Britain's food inflation could reach 20% in 2023 with many people in the UK saying it's already passed that. The "official" inflation figures provided by government do not seem to reflect the increases people are seeing at the supermarkets. When asked, the vast majority of people say that meat, eggs, certain fruits and vegetables, cheese and many other food items are up between 30% and 40%.

Of the 2,024 people surveyed, almost 60% said that the rising cost of living has changed their attitude towards gardening. Almost a third are planting vegetables from seeds instead of buying young plants from the shops. 29% are growing herbs and 20% are growing fruit too.

More than 60% of those surveyed said that they found taking care of a garden or natural space helped boost their mental health and the group whose interest in gardening grew the most were those aged between 25 and 34.

If more and more people decide to take up growing their own food this could help ease some of the pressure put on farmers. It could also help ease people's concerns about affording food or even finding it during potential shortages.