You don’t need to spend much to get into gardening – a little bit of effort and some thoughtful recycling will go far. Here are our top tips for low-cost cultivation

Visit the average garden centre and you might assume it costs a lot of money to get into gardening, but that isn’t the case. No matter how many products and plants are on offer, or how relentlessly the Instagram ads insist, gardening is not shopping. My focus in the garden has always been the plants, not the paraphernalia.

Thankfully, the tide is turning towards low-intervention, nature-centric gardening , which works well for those who don’t have much to spend. You don’t need a traditional garden to start growing, either, as many indoor and outdoor spaces – balconies, porches, windowsills – can be used for pots, as long as the the plants catch the sun.

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Britain’s missing voice in a key global anti-poverty debate reveals how the country is fading into irrelevance on the world stage

In late Victorian Britain, “splendid isolation” was celebrated as a testament to the nation’s imperial strength. Today, seclusion from global events is not an indication of power but the world’s indifference to Brexit Britain’s inward turn. A decade ago, the UK would have been at the forefront of anti-poverty efforts. Now it offers the world neither money nor ideas. The upshot is that China, the EU and the US are part of the School Meals Coalition, led by developing nations to push for universal access to free school meals by 2030 as a response to rising hunger. Britain is nowhere to be seen.

The coalition was at centre of debates at Monday’s UN food summit in Rome. Rising global food prices have left much of the planet poorer. But the main UK parties avoid saying that the state can combat poverty. The Tory indifference to hardship in a cost of living crisis rests on spurious anti-government arguments. Sir Keir Starmer’s crippling electoral caution means he won’t back universal free school meals for state primary schools in England. It is political arrogance to think that Labour has a right to the support of progressive voters regardless of what the party says and does. Labour’s Sadiq Khan knows what’s at stake. The London mayor is offering the capital’s primary-school children free school meals from this September.

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Start with a West African sweet potato and chickpea stew, and round things off with some no-bake peanut butter cups that even the kids can make

Peanut butter is a pantry stalwart (well, it is in my house) that works beautifully in both savouries and desserts, adding a richness and subtle sweetness in one simple step. I always opt for the crunchy stuff, but smooth works, too; both are interchangeable in today’s recipes. This West African-inspired stew and peanut butter cups make peanut butter the well-deserved star of the show, and can be batched up and frozen in portions for future meals – the stew, in particular, will benefit from being frozen, because the flavours become more “lived in” and bold the second time round.

Cook Clever: One Chop, No Waste, All Taste, by Shivi Ramoutar, is published by HarperCollins at £20. To order a copy for £17.60, visit guardianbookshop.com

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A summery, Milanese take on the much-loved Italian soup, to be eaten at room temperature in a cooling breeze

There was a house on Cassland Road, east London, that would produce the most fantastic cooking smells. This is more than two decades ago now, when I would pass the house once or twice a week, usually on my way to catch the bus. It didn’t matter what time it was – early morning, late afternoon or evening – evidence of something baking, simmering or roasting was almost always drifting through the kitchen window, over the wall and across the pavement. What made the situation even more intriguing, (and slightly Roald Dahl) was that I never saw anyone at the window, or going in or out. Who was responsible? And why? Did they have a large family, lots of friends, or run a small catering company? Were they happy cooking, or exhausted, or both? Whatever the reason, their repertoire was wonderful, and the smell of fruit cakes, things covered in pastry, burnt sugar, rice and peas, full roast dinners and even fuller curries circled like low-flying aircraft before being whisked away on the east London breeze.

Twenty years later in Rome, the smell of burnt jam and frying chicken brought back memories of Cassland Road. I was cooking in my dressing gown at 9am, an attempt to beat the heat and stickiness that moves in by mid-morning, a state not helped by watermelon, which turns every surface into adhesive. The burnt jam had leaked out of a tart, and the chicken was for this week’s recipe: minestrone estivo freddo , or cold summer minestrone.

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Readers reflect on ways to spark action to tackle climate collapse in the face of the rich dictating the conversation and policies

George Monbiot’s article should be read as a survival guide for humanity ( With our food systems on the verge of collapse, it’s the plutocrats v life on Earth, 15 July ). The ever-increasing signs of climate collapse make for heart-thumping reading, while our daily dose of record-breaking temperatures, severe water shortages and crop failure only add to the litany of looming disaster. Yet we continue with the model of “business as usual” because those in whom power and money are entrenched wish to keep them so.

So, what can the majority of us, who continue to bear the brunt, actually do? Protest just invites a prison sentence, while getting the media to invest a few words in the subject is seemingly impossible. Our most effective, and indeed possibly our only, tool for effecting meaningful change is our freedom to vote – all the way from local authority to national government – but with time fast running out we need those in power to be making those changes without further prevarication. Wherever you are, please use your vote wisely, because all our futures may hang on this tenuous thread.
Nick MacIneskar
Tayvallich, Argyll and Bute

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Celebrate the season with a fragrant herb-flecked rice and a gloriously rich and fruity sundae

At the kitchen counter, chopping. The herbs’ fragrance comes in waves. Verdant, fresh, invigorating. First there’s parsley – mild, somehow the cool wake-up-call of mint. Now, dill, grass-green and watery.

All the herbs are in fat bunches, so my rice salad will be more herb than grain, in the ratio of a classic tabbouleh. I am tossing the rice with broad beans, too, while the fresh ones are still around, and tiny green peas.

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A new push to offer free school meals across the globe won’t end world hunger but it’s a very good start

During the pandemic the Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford turned food into a hot political issue in the UK with his campaign for every child in a low-income family to be guaranteed a free school meal.

Since then, things have moved on. The problems facing low-income families – not just in Britain but everywhere – have worsened owing to rising global food prices . Consumers in the western economies have seen the cost of their weekly shop rise sharply. Food bank use in Britain has surged as a result of a cost-of-living crisis that has seen grocery bills rise by almost a fifth in the past year.

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Settle in for your favourite film with a bar of craft chocolate

As I write, the heat has turned to chill and I’ve had to find my socks again. One of the things I envy in US romcoms set in certain climes, is the ability to leave outdoor furniture cushions outside with absolute certainty that they won’t get rained on – and being able to plan outdoor gatherings without contingent measures for rain.

So I made a rather delicious chocolate cake using ground almonds, dates and chocolate using Willie’s 70% Chef’s Drops, £29.50/1kg, with its notes of ‘raisins and plums’, which went rather well with cream and strawberries and afternoon films. I rewatched The Silence of the Lambs with my eldest and shouted myself hoarse in the final scenes for Clarice to call for back up and not go down to the cellar.

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For a smart original take on great seafood, visit a railway arch close to the Thames in Deptford

Sharkbait & Swim, Arch 11, 4 Deptford Market Yard, London SE8 4BX (info@sharkbaitandswim.com for bookings). Small and large plates £4.50-£22, wine from £26

Oyster lovers travel hopefully. It’s not that we think we’ll always be the ones to dodge the “bad” oyster. We don’t fret about the bad oyster at all. That’s a paranoia for oyster agnostics, for the ones who think they ought to like them, but will quietly admit they are suspicious of the proposition. Our hope is that we’ll encounter not just the good oyster, but the better oyster and perhaps even the very best, for not all oysters are made equal. Some deliver that invigorating hit of saline and briskness, but lack body. Others are more substantial, but a touch one-note.

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