Selfsufficientish.com

Oops sorry. Climate can make quite a difference!
I'm right in the centre of England on the River Soar/Grand union canal in Leicestershire.

I'm new to growing my own food. Last year as an experiment I tried potatoes, red peppers, chilli peppers, aubergine, loads of salad leaves and tomatoes. All very successful with the exception of the aubergine. My problem is that all the stuff I grew successfully was so cheap in the shops that it did...