The good news is you can all easily grow your own gin ingredients in the garden.

The bad news is there is a shortage of the key ingredient, British juniper - but you can help.

Notting Hill 's Portobello Road Gin is giving away a free juniper sapling with every purchase of a 75cl limited edition gift-wrapped bottle this summer, to encourage gin lovers to grow their own juniper in their back garden.

Alongside a free juniper plant, they have also provided advice on how to grow them.

Self-proclaimed plant killers will be glad to hear that, once planted, there is not much TLC required to grow the valuable little juniper berries.

Saplings will be given away with the limited edition gin

To make it just that bit easier, we have put together a step-by-step video guide so you can't possibly go wrong.

How to grow juniper

The gin producer has teamed up with gardening expert and author of ‘How to Grow Stuff’, Alice Vincent, who has provided the following advice:

  • Ensure the soil is well-draining to ensure the plant grows in a wide range of temperatures.
  • It can be planted all year round.
  • The plant can be grown in a large pot or in the garden but make sure there are no weeds or other plants in the same area.
Get planting your juniper this summer!
  • Dig a hole in the compost, double the size of the rootball, tease out the roots of the plant before popping the ball into the compost hole.
  • Give the plant a good drink of water.
  • During the first two weeks, you will need to water the plant two to three times a week, then leave it alone and wait for the plant to start producing the key gin ingredient - juniper berries!

And once planted, you can expect your plant to live up to 170-years-old!

Why should I grow my own juniper?

Firstly, does anyone need an excuse to start growing the key gin ingredient in their back garden?

Secondly, there could be a unique bottle of gin in it for you, as once the bushes have harvested their first berries, growers are encouraged to send them in to The Distillery.

The gin hotel opened in December 2016

The berries will then be used in the copper still to make a unique British juniper distillate, which growers can use to make their own unique bottle of gin to take home.

Thirdly, and most importantly, apart from enjoying a glass of gin and tonic there is a serious reason behind all of this.

Juniper has suffered a sharp decline in Britain since 2004, with research on Scottish juniper by the woodland conservation charity Plantlife finding young plants and seedlings are in a minority as disease is killing them off whilst old, dead types of the plant are too high in number.

Low economic and cultural value of the plant alongside poor recovery of remnant populations are other reasons which are said to be behind the decline.

The plants can live for up to 170 years

Portobello Road Gin’s brand director Tom Coates said: "Juniper is a hardy plant, however the British contingent has taken somewhat of a beating in recent years, encountering a number of problems including disease & fragmented populations".

"We want to help get the foundation of the nation’s favourite spirit back on track and while most brands - including Portobello Road Gin - do not use British juniper in their spirit, as passionate gin-educators, safe-guarding our nation’s beloved juniper plant is very important to us."

For £25, you can get your hands on a bottle of Portobello Road Gin, along with juniper saplings at Waitrose.

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