Kathleen Clarke grows peas, beans, strawberries, blackcurrants, broccoli and even Chilean guavas. It's an impressive array for any gardener, but particularly so given that the only garden she has is a city centre balcony.

Urban gardening is, she reckons, growing like a weed, to the extent that office plant supplier Plant Life has recently opened its first garden centre in Dublin's Cork Street, with Clarke as its manager.

Prior to that she worked as a volunteer teaching trendy Temple Bar-ites how to grow their own fruit and veg. "Interest in growing your own is phenomenal right now, and it's lovely to see," says Clarke.

"When you consider the poor quality and high cost of food you buy in the supermarket versus that which you can grow yourself - there's no comparison. In terms of taste alone, a cucumber you buy bears absolutely no relation to one you grow."

Like Plant Life, Irish Seed Savers has witnessed increased interest in urban gardening in recent months. The Clare-based voluntary organisation works to preserve and distribute traditional varieties of fruit and vegetables which are not available in supermarkets.

Teaching people to garden is part of its mission and demand for these services has increased exponentially.

"Gardening used to have a slippered-old-man image," says Kevin Dudley, orchard manager with Irish Seed Savers. "Not any more. There's a whole generation of young people coming through who are starting to realise that it's wrong that they can't actually feed themselves."

Last year, for the first time in his memory, vegetable seeds outsold flower seeds in Ireland.

Among those driving much of this demand are first-time gardeners looking to supplement their table with the fruit of their standard semi-d garden.

"There's plenty you can do even if you don't have much space and you don't have much time," says Dudley. "Ideally, concentrate on salad-type crops that are really nutritious for your family and which you can't get commercially. I'm not talking insipid lettuces you get in the supermarket, but oriental salad leaves with mustardy or citrus flavours that you simply can't buy." You don't even have to dig. "Don't go down, go up," says Dudley. "Start with a grow bag and then graduate to raised beds, using railway sleepers or small stone walls. To produce the most nutritious food possible, make sure to fill them with the best soil you can get." Anyone with just a south-facing wall is on to a winner. "You'll get sunshine by day and residual heat by night and can grow tomatoes, runner beans and peas. We had peas in our garden but they never made the table because the kids grazed on them all day."

Potatoes are just as easy.

"In a small-sized plot you may not get enough to feed your family for a year, but you'll be able to pick new potatoes from your garden and garnish them with mint from your garden and, I promise, it will taste like nothing you've ever tasted before." If even a balcony is beyond you, the traditional alternative has been to apply for a local authority allotment.

South Dublin County Council has some of the best in the country, spread out over four sites. The biggest of these is at Friarstown, where 80 new plots were added this year and more may be in the pipeline. That said, they're still as rare as hen's teeth.

According to Paul O'Callaghan, of SDCC's development department, all are heavily oversubscribed and the number of enquiries the department receives about allotments each week has risen significantly. "In a way they are a victim of their own popularity," says O'Callaghan.

If you can get one, prices range from €40 to €100, with a large proportion of retired or semi-retired people currently allotment holders.

By contrast, when Meath farmer Karl Hennessy decided to open Grow Your Own, which he believes to be the country's first private allotments site, "most of the interest I got was from single women in their 30s who are serious about organic food and families with young children living on new estates".

Prices here start at €250 a year for a 37.1sq m (400sq ft) plot. The idea behind it was simple, says the dairy farmer. "I love my food and I was just sick of buying limp lettuces and paying three times what I should for them from supermarkets," he says. "I thought other people might feel the same."

***

How to start

SIZE DOESN'T matter when it comes to small holdings because one of the best ways to begin is through container gardening.

"Pots are so handy because you can move them around, and lift them on to a table to work with, so you don't even have to bend down," says Kathleen Clarke.

For novices, the cardinal rule is to start by planting only your favourite. "There's no point planting a billion bean seeds just because they were on sale in B&Q. If you don't want to eat them you won't love them enough to care for them," she said. "But if you love tomatoes, just plant them."

Hanging baskets can also be used. "They're perfect for strawberries and oriental salad leaves. With them you don't have to harvest a whole head, just cut a few leaves for your sandwich today and come back again tomorrow," said Clarke.

The most important thing is to have no fear. "There's no such thing as the gardening police. Just because it says on the back of the packet of seeds that you must plant in March doesn't mean you can't stick some seeds in a pot in November and see what happens. Those are guidelines for optimum yields, not hard and fast rules, so don't worry about it," she said.

Equally, don't be put off by the thought of having to kit yourself out with a new set of equipment.

"You don't have to spend anything to get started - use old yoghurt cartons instead of pots, use a spoon instead of a trowel. Some people really enjoy getting out and digging, but with pots you don't even have to do it."

Once you start enjoying it enough to think about next year, that's the time to start composting, she says. "That way even the most urban of gardeners can create their own sustainable loop, using up all your leftovers to help grow your food. It's totally satisfying."