Editorial: Growing your own produce

We love growing our own veges.

We have four gardens that capture the sun and throughout the wonderfully hot, dry summer it's been amazing just how much we've been able to pack into them.

There are tomatoes, lettuce, beetroot, pumpkin, courgette, sweet corn, broccoli, cauliflower, herbs, radish, capsicum, leek and peas. The courgettes have loved it and went crazy - we must have had at least 50. Our daughter has enjoyed hunting them out each afternoon after school so we can cut them off. My job has been to char-grill them on the barbecue.

There are few things more satisfying that crunching into your own vegetables knowing there are no pesticide residues or anything else nasty.

The other benefit is how much we've been able to save. Buying seedlings from a wholesale nursery is much cheaper than paying at the checkout. Every time I go to the supermarket the prices amaze me. And it seems these prices could rise this winter because of the drought.

We reported in the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend that locals face paying more for produce and the quality and size of crops could be affected.

The drought has made headlines across the country and we have published articles outlining the issues and what they mean.

The summer has been great for most of us, but farmers have been especially hit hard.

I feel sorry for them and believe it's important the community supports them.

So, unless regular rain arrives in the coming weeks and months, the weather could hit consumers financially when buying groceries.

I'm glad we've been able to offset some of the overall cost by growing our own, and we are already looking forward to next summer's home-grown produce.