The anxiety du jour is "food security". There are a number of reasons to be fearful about our food chain. The main one is that it is highly dependent on oil, from field (farming's extensive use of tractors, etc) to fork (transporting food round the globe). Restrictions on oil would mean restrictions on food. We import 40% of our grub, and our diet is narrowing: 80% of our calories come from just four tubers and eight cereals.

You can panic – or you can dig for sustainable victory. One in three people in the UK grows fruit and veg, and around 100,000 want allotments, but can't get them; some London waiting lists are 20-30 years. You can apply for an allotment out of the city, but driving miles to check your radishes could be worse than driving to the supermarket.The government is assessing a landbank scheme giving those who want to grow their own access to under-used and uncared-for land. If that sounds like your garden, put your spade to work before requisition becomes necessary. Until then, landshare – agreeing access to land owned by somebody else. The River Cottage-branded version is at landshare.channel4.com.

If your estate is best described as a window box or balcony, you probably need to specialise in rocket, sprouting broccoli or similar. Groboxgardens.co.uk is veg-growing by numbers, and is a good place to start. Just because you aren't horticulturally gifted doesn't mean you should be reliant on vittles requiring a tin opener as depicted in Cormac McCarthy's apocalyptic novel The Road.