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Grow Food for Free: The Sustainable, Zero-Cost, Low-Effort Way to a Bountiful Harvest
Huw Richards is a man on a mission. He wants everyone to grow their own fruit and vegetables, and he wants to prove that you don't need much money (or even your own garden) to do so.
Grow Food for Free shows you how to produce no-cost, low-maintenance fruit and vegetables. Learn about the space you need and how to prepare it, how to make your own compost, how to get your first set of seeds, and then strategies to multiply the seeds you have.
Can't afford a raised bed? Try repurposing an old wooden pallet. Don't have money to buy lots of different seeds? Look in your kitchen for food that you can plant. Don't have a garden? See if there is anyone in your local community that will let you grow vegetables in their garden. Whatever you're worried about, there is a low-cost way to overcome it.
Once you've found a good site, Huw recommends his favorite low-maintenance, high-yield crops, covering first annuals, then perennials (the holy grail of free food growing, as, if well maintained, perennial crops will provide new harvests year after year). Key plant maintenance instructions are provided throughout the book, as well as how to fend off common pests and diseases.
Discover how you can barter, borrow, repurpose, and propagate your way to a bountiful harvest of fruit and vegetables, joining the food-growing revolution without burdening your bank balance!
Grow Food for Free shows you how to produce no-cost, low-maintenance fruit and vegetables. Learn about the space you need and how to prepare it, how to make your own compost, how to get your first set of seeds, and then strategies to multiply the seeds you have.
Can't afford a raised bed? Try repurposing an old wooden pallet. Don't have money to buy lots of different seeds? Look in your kitchen for food that you can plant. Don't have a garden? See if there is anyone in your local community that will let you grow vegetables in their garden. Whatever you're worried about, there is a low-cost way to overcome it.
Once you've found a good site, Huw recommends his favorite low-maintenance, high-yield crops, covering first annuals, then perennials (the holy grail of free food growing, as, if well maintained, perennial crops will provide new harvests year after year). Key plant maintenance instructions are provided throughout the book, as well as how to fend off common pests and diseases.
Discover how you can barter, borrow, repurpose, and propagate your way to a bountiful harvest of fruit and vegetables, joining the food-growing revolution without burdening your bank balance!
224 pages, Paperback
First published March 3, 2020
178 people are currently reading
935 people want to read
About the author
Huw Richards
53 books63 followersHuw Richards is the rugby correspondent of the Financial Times.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
March 25, 2020
Even though I'm a semi-experienced gardener I still like to read any new gardening books because you can ALWAYS learn more and will never know everything there is to know about gardening. In Huw Richards book he shows that you don't have to invest a lot of money into creating a successful vegetable garden. He gives a lot of good tips on how to source materials for your garden or even using someone else's yard/garden. He has an entire chapter devoted to creating compost, which is great, but I do wish he would have talked a little more about cheaper ways to get good dirt to start your garden. When we first started our garden we ended up getting not great soil, but have amended it over time with our own compost, but I think that is one of the most challenging things with getting started. He talks about perennial and annual vegetables and herbs. He gives tips on dealing with common pests, how to best invest in your garden as you progress and I really like that the last chapter is Huw's Journal that shows one year of him creating a garden and growing food. Overall, this is a good book to help you get started growing your own food without breaking the bank.
September 11, 2022
I'm an experienced gardener with (only) 144 square feet of intensively planted raised beds and many edibles throughout my yard. This is a good book for the beginner budget gardener but there are some things where being cheap will cost you in the long run. Time is money and scrounging for materials may not be worth the wait. There's little about specific plants and even less on the importance of planting what works for your zone so saying to plant some items you find in your grocery store may be a waste of time. (If you can, plant those edibles that are expensive to buy or exotic for your area!) Barbara Pleasant's book, Home Grown Pantry, is a better choice, really. Nothing new here.
September 7, 2021
This is an interesting book.
Richards focuses on ways to save money and garden. While many of the suggestions don't cost money, they do cost time. There's also a lot of reliance on other people and community, which can be great, but just isn't an option in a lot of places.
There's some nice pictures and helpful information for first-time gardeners. There isn't a lot of specifics though, which surprised me. There's information on procuring pallets and making raised beds out of the pallets, but nothing about how finding your USDA zone for growing and specific plants that do well in each zone.
There's some thoughtful ideas, but not a super attainable guide.
Richards focuses on ways to save money and garden. While many of the suggestions don't cost money, they do cost time. There's also a lot of reliance on other people and community, which can be great, but just isn't an option in a lot of places.
There's some nice pictures and helpful information for first-time gardeners. There isn't a lot of specifics though, which surprised me. There's information on procuring pallets and making raised beds out of the pallets, but nothing about how finding your USDA zone for growing and specific plants that do well in each zone.
There's some thoughtful ideas, but not a super attainable guide.
September 27, 2021
This book was worth reading simply for the fact that I now understand how important compost is if you want to grow your own food cheaply. Also water.
I have just gotten into vegetable gardening over the past few years, and thought it was kind of pricey for something that people say will save you money. So the tips on greywater use, rainwater collecting, and composting were a bit of a lightbulb moment. (you mean I DON'T have to buy potting mix every spring for my container garden?) Now to actually make a functioning compost pile...
Otherwise, once I got over the culture shock (he talks about putting cardboard on your beds over the winter so that weeds don't grow! SNORT!) I found this a pleasant read in keeping with the philosophy I espouse, that life (and gardening!) is better when you can give and receive from a wide network of people, strangers and friends alike, who share at least some of your values.
I have just gotten into vegetable gardening over the past few years, and thought it was kind of pricey for something that people say will save you money. So the tips on greywater use, rainwater collecting, and composting were a bit of a lightbulb moment. (you mean I DON'T have to buy potting mix every spring for my container garden?) Now to actually make a functioning compost pile...
Otherwise, once I got over the culture shock (he talks about putting cardboard on your beds over the winter so that weeds don't grow! SNORT!) I found this a pleasant read in keeping with the philosophy I espouse, that life (and gardening!) is better when you can give and receive from a wide network of people, strangers and friends alike, who share at least some of your values.
November 21, 2021
There’s the meme I hate that keeps circulating in my online garden groups about the “$200 tomato.” What I like most about this book is that it pushes back on the recent depiction of edible gardening as something that is necessarily expensive, consumption-driven. and a luxury hobby. As if people with limited resources haven’t been growing their own food since the dawn of agriculture. While I think the book glosses over some big challenges at times that maybe an American author might have been more conscious of (access to growing space, the luxury of free time to garden and source/use free materials), it does offer a lot of good ideas and practical tips for growing food on a budget. The chapters on growing certain crops are only semi relevant for US-based readers because the timings, types of pests, etc. reflect the author’s local climate in Wales.
June 29, 2020
WOW, Huw Richards garden is amazing. Good, very basic information. I'd love to learn more about storing vegetables correctly after harvest -- and how long they will keep.
November 29, 2020
Good photos and innovative ideas. A nice starter book for the beginning gardener in a temperate climate.
June 30, 2021
Informative book about how to start your own garden in the back of your back yard. From seeds to compast to even on how to sell your produce. Its in there. Its a good start for anyone to start gardening.
July 3, 2021
Good solid info for starting to grow your own food.
March 26, 2021
Equal parts money-saving tips and a guidebook for new gardeners. There wasn’t a lot of earth-shattering wisdom in this book, but there didn’t need to be. Gardeners are generally all-around good people and trading time can often net returns. I love the philosophy behind this book and it broke things down into realistic but manageable parts.
March 31, 2020
Less Is More
Quite inspirational. A wonderful introduction to a gardening mindset where creativity, adaptability, and making more with less are encouraged. (Read on the iPad Kindle app.)
Quite inspirational. A wonderful introduction to a gardening mindset where creativity, adaptability, and making more with less are encouraged. (Read on the iPad Kindle app.)
February 25, 2023
The hardest part about gardening for me is that it feels unintuitive. Some seeds need to be planted at 2 inches, some need to be planted at the surface. Some like lots of organic material, some don't. Some like it wet, some like it dry; some like sun, some like shade -- There's no underlying set of rules, so what you've got to do if you want to garden well is memorize every plant's preferences. This book is essentially a plant-by-plant guide, and it's pretty good at describing how to plant, harvest, and sustain a garden with the plants it covers.
However, there's far too much emphasis on the "free" element that's in the title. For example, the author talks about how he traded a half-hour of his labor in exchange for three bulbs of garlic. Even at my expensive California Whole Foods market, that's about $1.50 in garlic in exchange for a half-hour of time, valuing the author's time at $3.00/hour. That's a very bad rate, and time is certainly not free. The book has a fair amount of bad math, and would be improved if the "free" part were de-emphasized.
However, there's far too much emphasis on the "free" element that's in the title. For example, the author talks about how he traded a half-hour of his labor in exchange for three bulbs of garlic. Even at my expensive California Whole Foods market, that's about $1.50 in garlic in exchange for a half-hour of time, valuing the author's time at $3.00/hour. That's a very bad rate, and time is certainly not free. The book has a fair amount of bad math, and would be improved if the "free" part were de-emphasized.
April 18, 2024
For a book aimed towards backyard gardening newcomers who don't want to break the bank on tools, seeds, and soil, this book was exactly what it needed to be. There are beginner tips on building garden beds from reclaimed pallets, hugelkultur (a cheaper and environmentally-friendly way to fill a garden bed with less purchased soil), growing plants for liquid feed, and uses of other throw-away goods to repurpose in the garden. Beyond some new ideas, my takeaway from this book is that it's totally possible to grow your garden from scratch with very little money if you are willing to connect with people who can help you, try new things, and pay attention to what's going on in your backyard environment. I loved the "year in the garden" journal feature he had at the end, which definitely demonstrated how it's possible to know next-to-nothing at the beginning of the journey and in just a few months, be holding a bountiful harvest!
February 4, 2026
This wasn’t really what I was expecting. It’s a good beginning gardening book for the novice but I thought it was about how to get seeds and plants for free. It’s more about things like how to use tired and pallets for planting and what free materials to fill them with for soil. I would definitely never grow food crops in tires, even though he says to line them with black plastic bags. I don’t grow in plastic on purpose, as it leaches toxins into the soil and the roots take them up. Likewise, some pallets are treated with very toxic chemicals and you’re supposed to only use ones with certain codes on them so you don’t grow in poisoned soil. He doesn’t mention that at all. There are lots of photos and it’s good info for the beginning gardener, but he leaves out so much more important information.
May 4, 2022
Dieses Buch habe ich zufällig in der Onleihe gefunden und gelesen. Es richtet sich aber eher an Anfänger (in Bezug auf Garten, Gemüseanbau, Tauschhandel und Upcycling). Bei manchen Tipps, z.B. dass man Bierfallen gegen Schnecken einsetzen soll, habe ich heftig den Kopf geschüttelt. Niemals würde ich eine Bierfalle bauen, da würden doch auch meine Tigerschnegel reintappen, um Himmels Willen! 😱
Außerdem verschweigt er, dass es einen großen Unterschied zwischen samenfesten Sorten und F1-Hybriden gibt. Dabei wäre dieser Hinweis sehr wichtig, weil der Autor empfiehlt, z.B. Samen von Tomaten oder Paprika aus dem Supermarkt zum Aussäen zu benutzen. Das kann zu großem Frust führen.
Tipp:
Schaut Euch den Youtubekanal von Huw Richards an und entscheidet dann, ob Ihr sein Buch kaufen wollt.
Außerdem verschweigt er, dass es einen großen Unterschied zwischen samenfesten Sorten und F1-Hybriden gibt. Dabei wäre dieser Hinweis sehr wichtig, weil der Autor empfiehlt, z.B. Samen von Tomaten oder Paprika aus dem Supermarkt zum Aussäen zu benutzen. Das kann zu großem Frust führen.
Tipp:
Schaut Euch den Youtubekanal von Huw Richards an und entscheidet dann, ob Ihr sein Buch kaufen wollt.
April 27, 2021
Huw Richards is basically a Welsh gardening MacGyver. He’s helpful, optimistic, and instructive, and for anyone that loves gardening, this is a solid reference book.
The only negatives I see to this is that many of his growing tips are contextual to the Welsh climate, so there are some considerations to take if you’re in a different growing zone (or if you want to try something like avocados or corn). Additionally, while he does briefly make note of this, some of his homemade solutions could contaminate your soil with chemicals or microplastics if you don’t take precautions.
The only negatives I see to this is that many of his growing tips are contextual to the Welsh climate, so there are some considerations to take if you’re in a different growing zone (or if you want to try something like avocados or corn). Additionally, while he does briefly make note of this, some of his homemade solutions could contaminate your soil with chemicals or microplastics if you don’t take precautions.
December 9, 2025
A genuinely encouraging guide that proves you don’t need money, fancy tools, or a huge garden to produce real food. Huw Richards shows how to build soil, start plants, and grow a surprising amount using recycled materials, clever shortcuts, and simple techniques that anyone can follow.
His tone is friendly and down-to-earth, and the zero-cost approach feels both sustainable and empowering. Perfect for beginners, budget gardeners, or anyone who wants to grow more with less.
A refreshing, practical read packed with ideas you can use right away.
His tone is friendly and down-to-earth, and the zero-cost approach feels both sustainable and empowering. Perfect for beginners, budget gardeners, or anyone who wants to grow more with less.
A refreshing, practical read packed with ideas you can use right away.
August 27, 2020
Grow Food For Free... an absolutely essential beginner's guide to planning, planting, harvesting, bartering and swapping seeds and produce for more prolific gardens. Author is an expert and self taught gardener extraordinaire, and breaks down tasks into simple, well described activities and accompanying pictures illustrating his methods. Very resourceful info.
October 8, 2020
What a fantastic, informative book. Lots of information and 'how to's' to grow food for free. Lots of ideas to make use of things we may already have, that you can make into raised beds etc. No matter how little space you have there is ideas of ways to grow your own food. A lovely inspiring book that anyone can use to start growing veg.
March 2, 2021
As a keen allotmenteer have a lot of growing books but am always on the lookout for more. I liked this book as it is based around growing things for free or as cheap as possible, a philosophy I stand by myself.
Minimum cost, medium effort, maximum flavour!
Huw Richards has rammed this book full of information and is one that you'll go back to again and again
Minimum cost, medium effort, maximum flavour!
Huw Richards has rammed this book full of information and is one that you'll go back to again and again
August 4, 2023
Amazing information for the beginning and the intermediate gardener. Really helpful tips cover all sorts of perennials and annuals. Easy enough to convert the months for sowing to southern hemisphere needs. All around a really nice and encouraging gardening book, which I'm sure to refer to many times. Definitely recommend.
Read
April 2, 2020Lots of good ideas and tips. Huw's diary at the back of the book was interesting. Inspires one to think outside the box and use what you have. Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Even if you don't want to grow food for free, there is plenty of information for growing food in general.
May 19, 2020
This is a very informative book filled with lots of tips and tricks to start a garden from scratch without spending a ton of money. I borrowed this book from our local library but this book would make a great addition to a personal collection for the home.
June 11, 2021
Really enjoyed this gardening book! Lots of practical ideas for improving my garden: I have several I’ve already put into practice (composting and seed starting) and several more I’m eager to try (comfrey fertilizer). Super glad I bought this - it is going on my resource shelf.
August 3, 2021
ספר מעולה למתחילים. מוסבר לפי שלבים ופירוט רב. אחרי קריאה התחלתי לעבוד מיד
התמונות נהדרות ונותנות עוד מימד של עיון בספר
למרות שזה ספיציפית מיועד לאנגליה ומדינות קרות אפשר לאמץ את כל העקרונות לכל מדינה.
ממליץ ביותר לכל מי שרוצה להתחיל עם גינון ופרמקלצ'ר
התמונות נהדרות ונותנות עוד מימד של עיון בספר
למרות שזה ספיציפית מיועד לאנגליה ומדינות קרות אפשר לאמץ את כל העקרונות לכל מדינה.
ממליץ ביותר לכל מי שרוצה להתחיל עם גינון ופרמקלצ'ר
May 18, 2022
Lots of great information. I’m not likely to use all of it, but some good basics for growing vegetables and fruit. Propagating and his tricks for bug issues got my interest. Now following him on YouTube.
April 8, 2025
Wow as a long time fan of the youtube channel I really loved the book and will recommend it to gardening buddies.
Lots of expanded ideas that I already use and some new things to look into.
Will add to backyard food library and share ideas with friends and online...
Lots of expanded ideas that I already use and some new things to look into.
Will add to backyard food library and share ideas with friends and online...
June 20, 2020
Half diary, half how-to for a selection of vegetables, with a load of ideas peppered throughout, this was an enjoyable read with a few things I want to try for myself.
September 29, 2020
very user friendly and helpful
how to create your own containers and tools
a good monthly planning guide
how to create your own containers and tools
a good monthly planning guide
March 31, 2021
Good beginner manual. Pretty pictures.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews