Joining a ‘veg box’ scheme has been on my list of green things I really ought to do for a couple of years but when I checked it out it seemed extremely restrictive – having to commit to the same thing every week, prohibitively expensive, or limited in what they offer.

But at the Camden Green Fair a few weeks back I visited the Farm Direct stall and their set-up is completely different.

You don’t have to order the same thing each time, and you don’t even have to place an order each week – perfect for me as I’m away such a lot. Also, they sell so much more than fruit and veg – they have meat, fish, cheese, fruit juice, bread, flowers, jams and more, with different options each week depending what they’ve sourced.

The depot is close to me in Holloway so I can go and pick it up if I can’t be in for delivery on a Saturday or Sunday. And though delivery normally costs £3.95, you get it free on your first order, and if you have a neighbour who’s also interested, they’ll deliver to you both for free. Apparently there’s someone else in my block of flats who’s already using the service so Farm Direct’s going to put me in touch with them.

Farm Direct is also much clearer on exactly where all of their produce has been sourced from, right down to the name of the farmer, unlike veg box pioneers Able & Cole who aren’t able to give you specifics. I loved reading that my minced lamb came from Nicola Bulgin’s Beatbush Organic Farm in Methwold, Norfolk; my chicken from Gill Wing’s Organic Farm in Sussex; my natural yoghurt from Chris Timotheou’s Dairy in Chalfont St Peter; my splendid rye loaf made by Matt Jones’ Flour Power City Bakery in Surrey Quays, London; spinach from Martin Mackey Ripple Farm Organics in Canterbury, and so on.

I’ve already had one salad using my rocket, cucumber and carrots and it was deeee-licious. They even threw in a bunch of dahlias for free as I had a promo code from the Fair!

But however much I’ve been impressed by the service and the quality of the produce they offered, I simply couldn’t justify it if it costs a lot more than I budget for. But I’ve just priced up what I’d normally have spent at Sainsbury’s and it’s barely any different.

In fact, the lamb, chicken and rocket came in cheaper. The total cost for the basket at Sainsbury’s would have been £17.39 (see pricing to the right).

For infinitely better quality produce, all locally-sourced, I paid just £18.36 with Farm Direct (see pricing below). And I didn’t have to struggle home on the bus with all my shopping bags!

There are still a few staples which I’ll have to go to the supermarket for – Ryvita, Actimel, tinned stuff and so on. But I’m hoping I might be able to stock up on these once a month since they aren’t perishable. Farm Direct also seems very open to new suggestions so I might put in a request for cottage cheese in case that’s something they can work on…

They have one of the longest life expectancies in the world here – 86 years for women and 77 for men. This is put down to their chilled-out lifestyle and healthy cuisine so I came to Emi’s Place to try some of the Okinawan specialities.

These range from seaweed and aloe vera (bit gross) to pickled cucumber (quite nice) and prawns in dill-tempura (lovely).

Emi showing me around her garden

Emi really puts my home-growing efforts to shame though. At the back of her house she showed us the dragonfruit, papaya, aubergine, dill, and all kinds of other stuff that she grows.

In my defence, the growing conditions in the tropics do lend themselves more to cultivating crops than the weather in north London has done recently, but I must still applaud her efforts.

I do hope my flatmate’s been remembering to water them…..

To give them the best possible start in life, I’ve invested in some plant food for my boys out on the balcony.

They’re not looking too healthy at the moment, to be honest. The basil is faring particularly badly. I haven’t watered them all week so that probably hasn’t helped – the weather’s been a bit rubbish so I’ve not been out on the balcony much.

I did, however, eat one of the peppers in a pasta sauce this week – it tasted pretty nice but was about a quarter of the size of a normal pepper so didn’t go far. Most of the other peppers on the plant have begun to shrivel so I’ve had to chuck them out. I now feel guilty of food wastage, but they were in a fairly advanced stage of rot.

The mint is looking marginally more lively than the basil, but my coriander is starting to turn quite yellow. I’m hoping that the plant food will do the trick but I fear it may be too little too late….

At about two metres square, it’s unlikely I’ll ever grow enough out there to become self-sufficient, but you’ve got to start somewhere.

I had intended to fully research balcony gardening before I went, to find out who likes sharing a pot with who, which plants I should be planting at this time of year, and which plants are most likely to thrive on the 37 minutes of morning sunshine our balcony currently enjoys.

Instead, I rocked up at Homebase with only a very vague idea of what I was going to buy, and quickly fell out with the store assistant: “Look, I just water the plants. I don’t know anything about plants” was the unhelpful response I got when I asked which type of mint she’d recommend.

I ended up struggling home on the bus with: two 70cm plastic planter troughs; a bag of compost; a pot each of mint, basil and coriander; and a ‘Pick-a-Pep’ plant which already has five miniature red peppers growing on it.

Coriander (left) and mint.

I have no doubt that sturdier, healthier, and more ethically-sourced plants are available from other outlets. At Homebase on a sunny Sunday afternoon, it was more a case of trying to find any plant which still had its label on. But now they’re bedded in and watered they’re not looking too ropey, are they?