There’s a lot of talk about Grow Your Own, but never quite as much about the other side of the fork – eating what you grow.

You need to grow what you love to eat and in the right quantity. Yes, of course you could grow enough courgettes to feed the rest of Scotland, but, as I know from bitter experience, once you’ve done five weeks of courgettes with everything and your friends start to run and hide when they see you coming with the odd 5 kilo or so, their attraction tends to pall.

For a long time, I made pickles and jams out of my surplus produce – onions, rhubarb, gooseberries, apples, blackcurrants (and even courgettes) all ended up preserved in sugar or vinegar or both - until I realised I was adding to my chutney stash at a rate of 30 to 50 jars a year and eating – erm…. just one or two.

Remember, if you’re going to go to the effort and expense of GYO, it’s as well to do it because of the sheer pleasure of the eating. The fruits and veggies you grow will be harvested at the peak of their season, fresh, vital and full of goodness. You will have lavished care, attention and a fair bit of cash on them, so it makes sense to make them something to be savoured with friends and family, not just a snack to stave off hunger pangs while you watch telly.

If you’re seriously out of the habit of making mealtimes a big occasion and food has become more functional than pleasurable, then help is at hand – in the form of The Big Lunch.

Started in 2009 by the Eden Project and supported by the BIG Lottery Fund, The Big Lunch was set up to get as many people as possible to have lunch with their neighbours in the spirit of community, friendship and fun. It could be just a few neighbours getting together over a meal, a full-blown street party that literally stops traffic or something in between. Whatever you choose, The Big Lunch gives you the excuse you need to get to know the neighbours a bit better and share some delicious (and hopefully home-grown) food with other people in your community.

Eight and a half million people took part in last year’s Big Jubilee Lunch, so if you haven’t yet been a Big Luncher yourself, I bet you know a man or woman who has!

There are loads of different benefits from taking part (or even organising) a Big Lunch. Communities across the country have found that things start to change in their neighbourhood once a Big Lunch has happened there. From that one day in June each year all sorts of things - friendships, ideas, projects – have started up that might never have happened otherwise.

And a Big Lunch near you is the perfect place to share the fruits of your labour – there’s nothing like the whole of your street finding out how green-fingered you are and what great food you grow to boost your growing confidence (and to find some willing victims for your bumper haul of courgettes later in the year).

I met a lovely lady last year who was planning to get everyone in her community growing something to take along to their 2012 Big Jubilee Lunch – from children growing salads and herbs on windowsills to a bit of guerrilla soft fruit gardening in the communal spaces around their flats. I’ve met others who were setting up a community garden on the back of their 2011 Big Lunch. The Big Lunch provided these people with an ideal opportunity to find like-minded Grow Your Owners and get planning a green revolution in their neighbourhood – could it do the same for you?

This year’s Big Lunch will be held on June 2 – though you can have it another day if you prefer. As I write, there's just 79 days to go until then. More than enough time to get together with others and make Big Lunch 2013 happen in your neighbourhood.

And just about the perfect amount of time to get planting so you can take some of your own delicious, fresh produce to the table.

There's loads of free help and support available from the Big Lunch website. You can sign up online for a free information pack, which comes with a free pack of salad seeds too.

What are you waiting for? Let’s do lunch!