Advice to keep extra food and essentials at home in case of storms, power cuts or other disruption over winter is everywhere right now. We’re being advised to stockpile food, but this overlooks the people and systems that make our food supply possible every day – farmers, growers, local food producers, community gardens and the infrastructure that connects them to the people they feed.
Being prepared doesn’t have to mean just filling a cupboard with tins. You can also grow your own food over winter.
Small spaces, big impact
Sheffield has around 200,000 gardens, and you likely have one of them. If everyone with a garden converted just a small 1㎡ space – whether that’s tarmac, decking, or lawn – into a veg plot, it would make a massive difference. Adding up a single square metre of healthy soil and vegetable production in every garden creates a total of 26 football pitches of productive green space!
And unlike a shelf of canned food, a winter garden does more than just feed you:
- Supports local wildlife during lean months
- Connects you with neighbours through shared tools and advice
- Gives you a rewarding reason to get outside and look forward to harvesting!
Fresh food through the coldest months
Our Winter Plant Sale is coming on Sunday 27th September, 11am to 2pm, packed with hardy, overwintering plants to get you started. From leafy greens and herbs to crops that deliver an early harvest next spring, there’s plenty you can plant now to keep fresh produce on your plate all season long.
Growing your own won’t replace your weekly supermarket shop, but there is genuine hope and comfort in watching something grow through the darkest months.
Growing collective resilience
Being prepared for disruption matters – but resilience is about more than what we have stored in our own cupboards. Growing a few winter crops won’t solve the bigger challenges facing our food system – but it is one small, practical way of becoming more connected to where our food comes from.
So if you’re thinking about preparing for winter growing, you’re not too late. Come pick up some winter plants at our plant sale on Sunday 27th September, 11am to 2pm, at Norton Nurseries!
Can’t make the plant sale? Don’t worry!
Just head over to our online shop and order a winter growing kit. Once purchased, our growing team will be in touch about collection from one of our sites.
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Growing Food
Winter Growing Kit
The fun doesn’t stop now that summer’s over, and we’ve got seedlings to keep your garden growing all over winter! With perennial herbs and winter hardy salads, our Winter Grow Kits aren’t one to miss! Available to collect from mid September, please await email confirmation from us to collect from your chosen hub!
