Feed yourself from your garden

Start by clearing a patch at least as big as a door in a position that gets good sun for most of the day. If you don't have garden space, there's a lot you can grow in pots, either in the garden or on a sunny balcony.

Vegetables need sun for healthy growth, so if your garden does not get sun all day, make sure you plant in an area where there is at least morning sun.

Choose a spot with the best possible soil. If all the soil is poor, you are going to have to put in some hard work by digging in plenty of organic matter.

The soil in your vegetable patch or vegetable pots (make sure pots are deep enough for root vegetables like carrots) must have sufficient air, water and nutrients for germination of the seeds and the healthy development of the plants.

In soil that is compacted it is almost impossible for roots to grow towards the nutrients, so make sure your soil is loose and packed full of organic matter.

Plant only what you will eat. There is no point planting broccoli, for example, if everyone in the family wants to run when they see this particular greenery on the dinner plate.

The wider the variety of vegetables you plant, the better it will be for your physical health, and for the health of the soil.

To ensure good harvests, sow seeds or seedlings only during the correct seasons. While most old-hand vegetable gardeners started sowing winter crops a few weeks ago, you can still plant cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and broccoli. You can also put in carrots, beetroot, turnips, radishes, onions, spinach, lettuce, Swiss chard, beans and peas.

After planting, it is important to keep the seeds moist to ensure germination, so water often while the weather is still warm.

Plant as many types of vegetables as you can. With careful planning, you can plant six to nine different vegetables in a bed the size of a door.

Draw a diagram of your patch and show what has been planted where to ensure you don't plant the same variety in the same spot again and again because each type of plant takes different nutrients from the soil.

Pesticides are a no-no in the food garden. Snails can be removed by hand and other pests can be combated in non-poisonous ways.

The writer is not a gardening expert. She has read volumes about gardening, and is a passionate urban gardener who is still learning by trial and error