Home-grown vegetables 'a nutritious addition to diets'

15:25 26th January 2011

People who plant vegetables in their greenhouses are likely to find they add a nutritious element to their meals.

This is because, according to the national secretary for the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners Donna McDaid, home-grown vegetables can promote a healthy diet.

She explained that the items of food are fresh and easy to access, which makes them wholesome produce.

Furthermore, because they do not have to be imported from other countries, it helps to reduce air miles as well as locking in goodness.

"You can taste the freshness when you harvest your own crops from your allotment that morning and cook them the same day," Ms McDaid stated.

She said that when it comes to taste and texture, there is "no comparison" to home-gown vegetables.

At the end of last year, researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health revealed people who own an allotment are often far healthier than those who do not.