Creating Beautiful (4) Growing our own Fresh Food and Flowers .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

In the fourth in our series on Creating Beautiful in our every-day lives, I explore just how simple it is to grow even a little of our own produce, both food and flowers. And you don't need acres of fertile farm land to do this. A tiny, sunny corner of the garden, or just a few pots, some potting mix and seeds or seedlings will get you started. It's not complicated either because you don't need a lot of expertise or time to succeed in growing even one or two herbs, a tomato plant, colourful flowers such as pansies, or even all of them together in one large pot. Or perhaps a pot of strawberries and fennel flowering and producing lovely soft fruits and fragrant fronds for the dinner table. (You can even use flowering fennel fronds in cut flower arrangements!)

Once you've started, there is nothing more satisfying than growing even one or two of your own vegetables and herbs. The fresh snap of a newly picked zucchini, or the sweetness of your own strawberries can't be replicated by store bought produce. And the fresh fragrance and taste of your own herbs is far superior to the usually wilted bunches found in your local supermarket.

Most of us think this is unattainable with our busy lives and can only be found in stylised life-style magazines. Yet, the reality is that even one or two pots on your doorstep, or on the balcony, will supply an abundance of home-grown vegetables, herbs and soft fruits. And with as little attention as keeping a watering can nearby (you may even start a collection of antique watering cans!) for a quick watering most days will reward you with something of your own produce to add a flourish and freshness to your meals.

It is also a wonderful thing to teach our children and can help to establish a gentle beginning to the evening routine after a busy day out in the frantic rush of every-day life. In other words, diverting even a few moments to a garden plant or two can help to relax and calm us down. And we get the benefit of at least some fresh food that has not been trucked and then stored for days, weeks or even months before we buy and consume it. We also know it has not been fumigated with toxins and packaged in plastic within an inch of its life (or ours)!

In the same way, we can grow flowers for our own use and as gifts for friends and family. Again, even a pot or two can produce lovely, fragrant cut flowers for our own joy and delight. And unlike most cut flowers purchased in supermarkets or from florists, home-grown flowers are not sprayed with fumigants to make them last longer than nature intended. (In fact, smelling store bought flowers is a little risky when you know what they may have been dipped or sprayed with!)

I think there is nothing lovelier than a bunch of home-grown cut flowers (even if a few misplaced weeds find their way into the arrangement .. which by the way is right on trend!) Home-grown flowers are reminiscent of times past where flowers as gifts, or for the house, were always cut from the garden; your own or a neighbour's. Home-grown flowers have a life and energy that is very different to the stiff, scentless soldiers generally found in the supermarket.

And home-grown flowers are seasonal, so you appreciate their fragrance and beauty even more as a result. What a wonderful gift to teach our children and grandchildren about the natural rhythm of the seasons; that there are flowers that flourish in winter and different flowers that grow in spring and summer.

It's a little bit special watching flowers go to seed so that they can be saved for next season .. where the cycle of life starts all over again. How fun to teach little fingers how to plant seeds into fresh earth and wait for the first green leaves to appear. Snow peas are perfect for this. Plant seeds saved from last season's crop in late autumn and wait for the flowers to appear in early spring!