The good life

From aubergines on bedroom windowsills to wind turbines on the roof and pigs in the back garden, these days DIY is about more than just knocking up a set of shelves. Claire Coleman examines the growing trend for self-sufficiency

Add together three trends—the squeeze on consumer wallets, an obsession with food provenance and a dawning awareness of how our lifestyles are damaging the planet—and the self-sufficiency Tom and Barbara sought in 1970s suburbia in The Good Life seems increasingly more attractive.

So, it's little surprise that while there are no official statistics on how many of us are ditching supermarkets in favour of self-sufficiency, there are a lot of pointers suggesting that we're turning to vegetable patches, urban chicken coops and solar-powered hot water.

The UK's seed companies have recorded such a leap in demand for vegetable seeds that, for the first time since World War II, they are outstripping sales of flower seeds. And those who don't have gardens are desperate for a plot of land in which to grow them—waiting lists for allotments have never been longer.

Then there's the livestock. The idea of keeping pigs in the back garden might have been the punchline of a joke in The Good Life, but with any number of high-profile chefs and foodies encouraging us to do just that, it has suddenly become far less laughable. In his River Cottage series of television programmes and books, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has done everything from nurturing garden snails to provide a tasty treat, to convincing a local estate to set up and run a free-range chicken farm. More recently, Gordon Ramsay and Janet Street-Porter have between them kept everything from turkeys and pigs to calves and lambs in their back gardens—and they've documented their progress, warts and all. Little wonder that now half a million families—two per cent of households in the UK—keep hens, and demand for courses, such as Pig Paradise's rare-breed day, is burgeoning.

The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in Machynlleth in mid-Wales, has seen a huge growth, both in its post-graduate courses in environmental architecture and renewable energy, and also in its short courses on topics such as organic gardening and eco-building.

"Where once we would have run a course twice a year, now we're having to offer it four, five, even six times to keep up with the demand," says Alex Randall of the centre.

So if you're thinking about going self-sufficient, where do you start?

Energy
The idea of generating your own electricity and going "off-grid" might be appealing, but unless you live on top of a remote mountain, sticking up a wind turbine, or slapping a set of solar panels on your roof, might be counter-productive. "At CAT, we don't actually support the notion of total self-sufficiency because in an urban environment it's just not possible, or that desirable," explains Randall. "It's very wasteful and inefficient for every single house on a street to be producing its own electricity, as it's much more efficient to produce on a larger scale."

That's not to say you're always going to be a slave to the utility companies, but Randall suggests that you start by looking at your energy expenditure and work out how to reduce it. "It's not exciting or sexy, but until you've done the dull things like insulating cavity walls and lofts, fitting double glazing and draught excluders and turning things off rather than leaving them on standby, there's just no point in investing in a solar panel," says Randall. Ultimately, installing a solar-water heating system could knock up to 70 per cent off your water-heating costs, but conversely a wind turbine is more likely to annoy your neighbours than slash your electricity bills.

"Unfortunately, many of the things that have become icons of an environmentally sound, self-sufficient, sustainable lifestyle are ironically more likely to increase your impact on the environment. Having a wind turbine mounted on your roof might look good, but in the city, where wind flow is disrupted by the urban landscape and a turbine is unlikely to be high enough to generate any significant power, it's just a bit of a gimmick," says Randall.

Find out more:
Get advice sheets from www.energysavingtrust.org.uk and www.cat.org.uk

Fruit and veg
If you're serious about self-sufficiency, the best place to start is with a few packets of seeds. According to Ellie King of leading charity Garden Organic (formerly known as the Henry Doubleday Research Association), you don't need acres of land, or even a vegetable patch to get started.

"Even if you live in a flat with no outside space at all, you can still grow some of your own food. You can grow salad in old yoghurt pots—if you sow in succession, planting say 20 seeds every couple of weeks, you can have a constant crop, all year round. If you're lucky enough to have a patio, you can grow potatoes in growbags and even dig up a paving slab for a mini vegetable patch, but you can always plant vegetables in pots. I've got an aubergine on my bedroom windowsill and a courgette in the lounge."

Before you do anything, get composting. Not only is there a satisfying symmetry in using vegetable scraps to grow more vegetables, but it reduces your waste output and means you don't need artificial fertilisers and can work with nature. "Wormeries are great, they're really easy to set up and are ideal for patio gardens, or anywhere there's not the room for a proper compost heap," says King.

The local organic farm shop might be able to help you out with seeds, but otherwise try Garden Organic. If you need kit, such as feed or hibernation houses, try the Organic Gardening Catalogue.

Find out more:
www.gardenorganic.org.uk has information sheets on how to grow organic and www.organiccatalogue.com will give you all you need kit-wise.

Chickens and Eggs
Once you've got your veg going, if you've still got space, you can look at the idea of keeping a few chickens in the back garden. If you're just keeping hens for eggs than you don't need to worry about being woken in the early hours by a crowing cock.

What you do need to worry about—whether you're in the country or the city—is foxproofing your chicken run. Of course, you could start from basic principles, and buy a load of chicken wire, wood and nails; or you could take advantage of a clever company called Omlet, which claims to take all the hassle out of chicken-owning.

Its philosophy is that keeping chickens should be "as easy as looking after a goldfish, but more rewarding than owning a dog". For the princely sum of £395, it will install your chicken hut, called an Eglu, complete with two chickens, a foxproof run, and a whole load of extras. Better still, Omlet will even give you advice on how to keep them.

Find out more:
www.omlet.co.uk offers the full package while www.bhwt.org.uk is the Battery Hen Welfare Trust, which can help you adopt ex-battery hens that tend to be disposed of after one year of life when their productivity diminishes.

Livestock
Gordon Ramsay might have inspired you to pop a pair of porkers in your back garden, but CAT's Randall isn't so sure. "Keeping livestock just isn't a very efficient use of land," he says.  "Assuming you're growing the food you need to feed the pigs on, you're only going to get about one tenth of that back in meat. It's really only sensible to consider if you've got land to spare or land that can't be cultivated. Unfortunately, saying you've insulated your loft and started growing potatoes isn't nearly such good dinner party conversation as saying you've got a pig in your back garden."

And, of course, there are all the rules and regulations that apply to owning livestock. Whether you keep one pet pig for fun, or a whole commercial herd, you need to register with DEFRA, obtain a County Parish Holding (CPH) number from its Rural Payments Agency, fill in the paperwork to move the animals from one location to another, and ensure they are correctly identified with an eartag or tattoo.

Then there are feed rules—understandably, you're not allowed to feed pigs scraps these days—and slaughtering. If you're killing the pig for your own consumption, as long as you do so humanely, you can legally kill it on your own property, but Tony York, of Pig Paradise Farm in Wiltshire, wouldn't advise it. "You'll get far better meat if a registered slaughterhouse does the job and a decent butcher prepares the meat." For the best-tasting meat, you need a rare breed; although other choices, such as whether you're more interested in producing the best bacon or the best pork, are more personal.

York runs one-day courses in pig-keeping, which attract everyone from high court judges to bus drivers. "More and more city types are being sold on the idea of keeping pigs," he says. "Not only do you get better quality meat for your family, but it's very relaxing-after all, you can't obsess about forecasts and targets when you've got a farrowing sow to worry about."

But you will still need your business head to make the project cost-effective. "The general rule of thumb is that one pig loses you money, two will break even and three will make you a profit." Better clear the garden, then.

Find out more:
Book your one-day course at www.pigparadise.com or get more info from the British Pig Association www.britishpigs.org.uk, who might be able to help interpret the complicated advice from www.defra.gov.uk

Grow your own

Start with a plan
Planning what you are going to grow, when and where, can ensure that you remember to sow it, and that you have a space in the garden to grow it. Crops that go over quickly once they are ready to pick (calabrese, heading lettuce, spinach and French beans) are best sown little and often, so you can eat everything before it's too old, but still have a regular supply. Sowing 12 calabrese plants every two months gives an average family of four an on-and-off supply almost all year round, using protected cropping in early spring.

Seasonal protection
Extending the growing season is an obvious way of helping to fill the hungry gaps. A greenhouse or polytunnel with soil beds is a great advantage early and late in the season. A Keder greenhouse allows plants to grow evenly. Early in the season you can use it to grow outdoor crops, such as potatoes and peas. The extra protection brings them forward several weeks. By July and August the space is clear for winter salads and veg.

Pest control
The best way to deal with pests and disease is to practice crop rotation. This involves dividing your vegetables into at least four groups that stay together each year but move onto the next part of the rotation every spring. The vegetables are grouped by family as well as similar feeding habits. Apart from being the best way to build soil fertility, it is the most important factor in controlling the build up of pests and diseases. All organic growers practice crop rotation.

Feed your soil
Making and using compost is also essential to organic gardening. The finished product should be rich, dark, crumbly and sweet-smelling. Anything that was once living will compost: as a guide, use greens (nettles, vegetable peelings, tea bags) with browns (cardboard, newspaper, sawdust). The right balance is something you'll pick up with experience, but a rough guide is to use equal amounts by volume of greens and browns.

Tips provided by Garden Organic, an organic growing charity