I’m keen that my kids know where food comes from as opposed to some children that think that fish fingers grow on trees and that chicken is a vegetable. To that end I built a couple of boxes to grow veg in. These were made a minimal cost from a cheap “off-cut” timber merchant. They were filled with cheap top soil mixed with some compost from Aldi (which was also cheap).

Previously we have grown carrots, onions, tomatoes and spring onions. This year we are doing beetroots, parsnips, red opinions, purple carrots, tomatoes and strawberries. We also have apple, pear, cherry and plum trees in the garden (although the apple tree is the only one that’s ever given us fruit).

There really is something special watching your kids just pull things up in the garden, wash them at the outdoor tap and then eat them. We’ve made french onion soup, carrot cake, and tomatoes chutney and it’s great to think that my kids will know about this and not be reliant on packaged foods and processed rubbish.

Time – Months to Years (nothing in the work of gardening is quick except how fast I manage to kill plants!)

Equipment – wood, screws, soil, compost, seeds, watering can or hose, plant feed, hungry kids. Minimal space is required as you can see from the photo. These boxes are flush with our driveway fence.

Cost – ££

Difficulty – easy

Partner Annoyance Factor – Negative. She loves the fact that we can go into the garden and pull up fresh veg to have with dinner

Family – Everyone can be involved. We all get to choose a crop each year so everyone has a vested interest in looking after a particular part of the veg boxes (so far nobody has sabotaged another’s crop). Also there is a lot to be gained from colouring in the crop markers (I recommend Sharpies).

Rewards – Very high as mentioned above.