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Everything you need to make gardening easy and fun. 

Midlands and the South of England have a higher proportion of gardens with vegetables than elsewhere in the UK. London is the exception with only 21% of gardens in the capital growing vegetables.

Scotland, Wales and Northern England have a below-average proportion of gardens with vegetables in them - only 13% of gardens in Scotland grow vegetables. 

When it comes to fruit, Scotland has the lowest proportion of gardens growing fruit at 17% and the South West once again tops the table with a proportion of 34% of gardens growing fruit.

In 2005, 60% of seeds bought were for flowers and 40% for vegetables. Since 2007 sales of vegetable seeds have soared. in 2009 70% of seed packets sold were for vegetables.

Packaging

• Each year an estimated 6.3 million tonnes of packaging comes into British homes, at a cost of £450 to the average family

• Up to one-sixth of the average household food budget goes on packaging and it makes up a third of our household waste.

Obesity and fast food

• In the UK, in 2003, around 8,403,365 men aged 16 and over within the English population were overweight. A further 4,302,588 were obese.
  For women, it is estimated that approximately 6,772,757 were overweight and 4,754,080 obese. Approximately, 643,513 boys (aged 2-15) and 613,048 girls (aged 2-15) were overweight in 2003 with a further 746,662 boys and 675,983 girls who were obese.
• On a given day 30.3% of children and adolescents have reported to have eaten fast food.
• Children who ate fast food, compared with those who did not, consumed more total fat, carbohydrates, and sugar-sweetened beverages. Children who ate fast food also ate less fiber, milk, fruits, and non-starchy vegetables.
• An average Indian takeaway contains 23.2g of saturated fat. For women, this is 3.2g more they should eat in a day. The average calorie content of a takeaway is high - 1,338 calories for Indian and 1,436 calories for the same-sized Chinese takeaway.

Food and children

• Children who eat with their families every day, or almost every day, consumed more essential nutrients and lower amounts of fat than children who never or only sometimes ate meals together as a family.
• Helping in the kitchen allows children to develop language, reasoning, reading, maths, and science skills.
• In a survey of 1,000 children and 1,370 parents carried out by Sainsbury's for its Active Kids initiative 87% of parents admitted that their children influence the food they buy. They've got the power. Now more and more kids are making the pestering more positive.
• In his TED talk Jamie Oliver talks about teaching every child about food
• The kitchen is a fun and exciting place for children.  It's a great way to bond with your child, as well as being educational "Children can acquire and hone skills such as counting, measuring, weighing and understanding time and fractions - all without noticing"
• Recent research (Jan 2010) found that only 1% of packed lunches met all the nutritional criteria set out in the standards for school meals. This type of research provides evidence for policy makers of the need to produce practical educational material on how to prepare a nutritionally balanced packed lunch for children.

Growing your own food

• Growing your own fruit and vegetables dramatically reduces your food's carbon footprint. Your food will be grown in your back garden or local allotment, which should only be within a couple of miles from your home. Food will also be fresher: A greater number of vitamins, antioxidants and minerals will boost your immune system and help expel harmful free radicals from the body. Half the vegetables and 95% of the fruit eaten in the UK comes from beyond our shores.
• Increasingly, supermarket food arrives by plane - and air travel gives off more CO2 than any other form of transport. Agriculture and food account for nearly 30 per cent of goods trucked around Britain's roads and, according to a Government report in 2005, the resulting road congestion, accidents and pollution cost the country £9bn a year.
• The term 'food miles' was coined in the 1990s by Dr Tim Lang, professor of food policy at London's City University.
• Although air-freighted produce accounts for less than one per cent of total UK food miles, it is responsible for around 11 per cent of the total CO2 emissions from UK food transport. That's because transport by plane generates 177 times more greenhouse gases than shipping does, for example.
• Food transport is responsible for 25 per cent of the kilometres clocked up by HGVs on our congested roads. ll these journeys around Britain mean that HGVs transporting food transport are responsible for a quarter of CO2 emissions.

Environmental impact of eating meat

• 18 % of global greenhouse gas emissions come from raising animals for meat. 18 % of global greenhouse gas emissions come from transporting meat. 1/5 of the world's greenhouse gas emissions comes from meat production. That's more than all of the world's air and road transport combined.
• Rearing animals has also led to deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, as forests have been cleared to make way for cattle. More than two-thirds of now-deforested Amazon Basin land is taken up by cattle grazing. Much of the rest of the deforested Amazon Basin has been given over to growing animal feed, particularly soya.
• The amount of CO2 released from producing 1kg of beef is roughly the same as driving a car more than 250km (155 miles).
• 'Meat free Mondays' is backed by Chris Martin, Sheryl Crow and Paul McCartney to help cut carbon emissions
• Role of supermarkets in healthy eating
• Supermarkets are being targeted by ministers distributing the government's healthy eating cookbook for children. 'Real Meals book' is funded by the DCSF and has easy to follow and healthy recipes for young people.
• Jamie Oliver is the public face of Sainsbury's: "At a time when supermarkets are driven by price, independent research shows that customers believe that quality is just as important as price when determining value for money. Jamie' s partnership with Sainsbury's is part of an extensive campaign by the retailer to ensure their customers and colleagues alike experience and enjoy the best quality food, whatever they buy."
• Food labelling is still not clear, and advertising misleading - "fat free" could have more salt or sugar content
• The average salt content of a supermarket ready meal is 1.8g per meal. In a survey the saltiest meal was Asda's Indian chicken tikka masala with pilau rice at 5g of salt per serving. Britain's Food Standards Agency recommends no more than 6g of salt per day
• Helping customers to shop more healthy by giving practical tips, such as a recommended shopping list for customers to adapt and stick to

Queues

• The average British adult waits in line for almost 35 minutes every week, adding up to 30 hours a year. As a nation, we queue for a collective total of 1.4 billion hours per year, according to the study by getmein.com.

• Supermarkets are the worst offenders, with 94% of us naming them the worst place for queues.

Existing initiatives

• 5 a day
• Change for Life