SPIN-farming taking off

In the wake of the financial downturn, a trend is emerging in US gardening.

The SPIN-farming trend has been highlighted in the Philadelphia Inquirer in an article on 53-year-old male nurse Don Pollard.

Originally from Georgia, the garden lover intends to move back to his home state to till five acres of land using the SPIN strategy.

SPIN stands for small plot intensive and involves growing as many crops in as small an area as possible with the intention of selling them on locally for profit.

Centre Citys Roxanne Christensen told the newspaper that growing your own is now realistic wherever you live.

"Not everyone is cut out for farming, or even food gardening. All of what we say about SPIN-farming is based on this: Does it make sense?," she said.

"The distinction between city and country is an outmoded concept. Theres no reason you cant grow your own anymore."

According to kitchengardeners.org, it is useful to be able to regulate the temperature of your seed-starting area when growing vegetables.

A good way of doing this could be to invest in a greenhouse.