Here’s how families in East Renfrewshire can grow their own veg

Available at the click of a button, it will help busy families who would love to grow their own food, but don’t know where to start or have the time to learn.

Families can book a convenient date and time to get started.

A ‘build-anywhere’ starter kit is delivered to their home with everything needed to grow vegetables in the garden including; a wooden raised bed, soil, plug plants and seeds, and accessories. Uniquely, it comes with a visit from a friendly, local grower (this is the secret ingredient that really makes it all happen!)

They will arrive at the appointed time, to help the family build it. No prior knowledge is needed and a further two follow up visits will ensure the vegetable garden has the best chance of success as the experienced grower builds up the family’s knowledge and confidence.

Goody Foody Gardens provides meaningful and flexible employment for people with a passion for growing vegetables. They come from all walks of life including older amateurs from the local allotments and horticulture students. The one thing they all have in common is that they love growing veg and want to share their passion and knowledge with families and teach them new skills.

Laura Molloy said of the venture: “As the founder, and mother to a brood of three, I share all the same concerns as most parents; too much plastic packaging, too much screen time, not getting outdoors enough, a desire for my kids to eat healthily and understand where their food comes from.

“As the antidote to this I tried to grow my own veg in the garden during my last maternity leave. I had no knowledge, no time to learn, no support and I gave up when I returned to work. In the words of my son, it was an ‘epic fail’.

“Since then I have watched the interest in ‘growing your own’ increase. Sales of vegetable seeds are exceeding sales of flower seeds in the United Kingdom (UK) for the first time since the Second World War, accounting for almost 80 percent of sales of seeds and plants now, compared with 30 percent in the 1990s.

“Even the Royal Horticultural Society have ‘growing your own veg’ as one of their top 5 tips for 2020.

My desire to learn and get started had not diminished, I just needed something that would fit it in to my busy life. Goody Foody Gardens was the result. To test the idea and process, we ran a pilot study with families and local, experienced growers in 2019. This allowed us to refine the process, understand what worked and didn’t work for the families and what was needed by the growers to ensure the raised beds could be built and maintained to achieve optimum results. The pilot was a resounding success!”

Mum of two, Mairi Watkins, said: “We were one of her trial families and loved it. We actually managed to grow vegetables - an accomplishment considering my poor track record with keeping even a houseplant alive!”

“it’s honestly brilliant! My son loved getting to pull up the veg, and took his watering duties very seriously! Was great for getting him to taste new stuff too.”

Lorna Alexander who has three children, said: “I wanted to grow my own veg for years but literally had no idea where to start and as a mum of three young kids I couldn’t face having another thing to have to put the research time into. Goody Foody Gardens did that for me! The patch was started for us and the follow up gardener visits have been invaluable for giving me the tools and advice to keep it going! I would never have had the knowledge or motivation otherwise.

“ My kids absolutely love looking after their patch, picking strawberries or snacking on salad leaves while playing in the garden! I love that we can pick our own vegetables for dinner, cutting down on plastic, becoming more sustainable and setting a good example for our kids to carry on too!”

On Friday, February 7, a Crowdfunding campaign will be launched to raise £10,000, with the chance of an additional £5K grant from the Royal Bank of Scotland #BackherBusiness Campaign.

The money will be used to train the first intake of local growers to become Goody Foody Growers and buy for the materials for the first 100 starter kits.

If successful we will take pre-orders from the end of the campaign and launch in Spring 2020 and you can pre-order here