The Salvation Army's guide to growing your own fruit and vegetables

The grow your own guide from The Salvation Army is designed to inspire you to start growing your own fruit and vegetables.

The Growing Guide was created to inspire you to start growing, no matter the space you have. Whether it’s a sunny windowsill, a balcony, a patio, a garden, or even an allotment - there’s a way for everyone to enjoy the joy of growing.

The Salvation Army delivers its work through mission priorities: five key areas which enable us to express our mission of faith, justice, service and evangelism. Care for Creation is one such mission priority with a focus on a more responsible use of our planet. Helping inspire more people to grow their own, no matter the size of their outside space, is one step we can all take to help reduce our carbon footprint, and provides us with nutritious, tasty, healthy food.

Why should you grow your own?

Better for the planet: Growing your own reduces food miles and packaging waste.
Better for your wallet: Fresh produce without the supermarket price tag.
Better for your soul: caring for the earth leads to a deep sense of gratitude for what we have been given. (feel free to edit if that's too long).
Better for your taste buds: Nothing beats the flavour of a home-grown tomato!
Better for your wellbeing: Gardening is proven to reduce stress and boost mental health.

How The Salvation Army is growing hope

At The Salvation Army, we believe gardening can change lives. Across the UK, we’ve introduced growing projects to bring communities together and transform people's futures through:

Teaching families to cook with seasonal produce.
Helping residents in our Lifehouses (hostels for people experiencing homelessness) learn new skills and find purpose.
Supporting children with additional learning needs through hands-on allotment education.

Your support helps us plant seeds of hope alongside seeds of fruit and vegetables.

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A story of transformation

Thanks to generous donations from people like you, our community centre in Huddersfield has transformed their outside space into a sensory garden for children with additional needs. Majors Adrian and Christine Lee, who lead the Huddersfield Salvation Army centre, said:

“We wanted to make use of the space and create something for the community... we’re so thrilled at how it’s come together and how people have mucked in. No pun intended!”

Open to the public twice-weekly, the space contains over 17 varieties of plants and flowers, fruit trees, a bug hotel and plenty of local creative touches from the local community. Mayor of Kirklees Cllr Liz Smaje, described it as a place of ‘connection, peace and community.’.

"I hope this garden continues to be the gift it is to the community and a symbol of what can be achieved when we come together with shared purpose and generosity."

Mayor of Kirklees Cllr Liz Smaje

We couldn’t do what we do without the kind generosity of people like you. Your donation could help us transform more lives through gardening related projects, If you can, please consider making a donation today.