As the cost of living rises, home-grown fruits and vegetables are something to fall back on

With lettuce and cauliflower costing $6 each and recent weather events expected to push prices even higher, more and more gardens are being transformed as people start growing their own.< /p>< p class="_1HzXw">Rebecca Johnson, the general manager of the Limberlost Garden Center in Cairns, says she is seeing an increase in sales of seedlings, fruit trees and seed packets.

"Everything gets a little more expensive to buy, so personal cultivation becomes more appealing," she said.

"Recently , there has been an increase in demand for things like lettuce, herbs and tomatoes."

"The Beans Have Taken Off"

Tablelands author Jo Whitton started growing her own food a few months ago after the beans hit $40 a kilo at his local supermarket.

"I wanted to start growing a lot more of my own food because of rising food prices," said- she said.

"With all the growing uncertainty in the world, I wanted to have a garden in my garden to fall back on."

Jo Whitton grows her own produce due to high supermarket prices.(Supplied: Jo Whitton)

Up to now Mrs. Whitton has planted lettuce, spinach, peppers, peppers, tomatoes, beans, beets, carrots and potatoes.

" Some of them take longer than others, but the kernels took off, which I'm glad I saw in the store for $44/kg the other day," she said. .

< p class="_1HzXw">"I've never planted on this scale before and there's a lot to learn. I'm always researching where to plant and what grows well together and what doesn't."

An unexpected benefit, according to Ms Whitton, was the amount of food offered by other grow their own food.

"People always drop off food, we don't trade, we just share with each other," she said.< /p>

"I had people drop off bags of fruit and boxes of avocados and I can't wait to return that favor."

Jo Whitton with his harvest of turmeric in his garden.