How?

Oats are a sustaining food and used in breakfast porridge and muesli mixes, and are fairly easy to grow.

Commercial yields work out at around 0.55kg per square metre (1 lb per square yard) - but you need to keep the sparrows off at sowing and ripening times, then harvest and thresh the oats (unless you choose the no-husk type), then crush them, so perhaps the shop option is the best.

Sow in winter for a heavier summer crop than you would get with a spring sowing, but be sure to choose a winter oat variety if you do. Don't sow a winter oat variety in spring as it needs a cold period to trigger flowering.

Sow winter oats in September (later in mild or sheltered areas) at around 300 seeds per square metre, and use a new patch of soil each year.

Harvest in July/August - if you are too late all the seed will be shed onto the ground for the birds and mice, so keep an eye out!

This page has information on growing ingredients for muesli/porridge: oats.