Planting Your Own Home Garden
Can I Really Have
My Own Home Garden?
You can make a garden almost anywhere, no matter what your living situation is like or your spacial limitations, there is always going to be room to grow something. All you need is SOIL, SUNLIGHT, and WATER. Anything from extravagant backyard gardens to tubs filled with soil on your fire escape can grow plants and food. Not only is growing your home garden fun and relaxing but also you can highly benefit yourself and the world around you!
Why Should I Have A Garden and Grow My Own Food?
One question you're probably asking is if a garden and growing your own food is really worth your time, are the benefits realy significant enough to take that time? The answer is YES! When thinking of the benefits of growing your own garden there are 5 major ones that may change your mind:
1. Saves Money
Of coures there are going to be start up costs when starting your own garden like with anything, but the financial benefit in the longrun is very justified! According to a study done by the National Gardening Association in 2009 the average cost of a home garden in the US is $70 per year but the average return of a 600 square ft. garden is about $600 worth of food producing more than 300 lbs of produce a year!
2. Chemical Free
There has been a lot of controversy coming up about the use of pesticides and GMOs in our food; farmers are beginning to use unsavory techniques when producing produce and other food sources for our consumption. When you grow your own garden you decide how to tend to it and what to use with it, so you are never playing the guessing game; you know exactly what’s going into your body.
3. Tastes Better
The taste of store bought produce is no comparison to that grown in a home garden. Not only are most store bought produce grown using pesticides and GMOs but they are actually bred to ripen on transport to the store. When produce instead ripens on the plant or in the ground it takes in essential vitamins and nutrients which make the taste and texture much more appealing.
4. Good for Your Health
It’s widely known that vegetables and fruits are good for your health but did you know that not all produce is created equal? GMOS and pesticides used on store bought produce can be detrimental to your health in both the short term and long term and who knows what is on peoples hands when they are handling the produce that will eventually be in your body. By growing your own garden you can have the healthiest, tastiest produce out there. Also it has been shown that gardening relieves stress, which benefits your mental health as well.
5. Reduces Energy Cost and Conserves Resources
Mass farming has significant effects on our ecosystem and natural resources. Giant fields of corn and soybeans can sap the land of nutrients and make it unable to be planted on again for decades. Also transporting the produce after it has been grown takes a large amount of natural resources and can result in harmful toxins from fossil fuels being released into the air. When growing your own garden you take a lot of those energy costs out of the equation.
So I Know I Should, But How Do I Start My Own Garden?
So you’ve decided your going to go ahead and give gardening a try, but where do I start? Here are a few tips when starting your own garden:
1. Decide where you are going to start your garden and mark space off for it, this can be as big as a whole backyard or as small as a window sill.
2. Decide what you’re going to plant, start small and only pick things you know you will eat.
3. Once you have decided where and what you’re going to put your garden, get a pen and paper and start writing out a rough design for your garden.
Go to the following link to play around with a virtual garden; design how you want it to look and what you want to be in it: http://www.yates.com.au/garden-club/virtual-garden
4. Pick a spot that will get at least 6 hours of daytime light and is close to water.
5. Use contaminant free soil and consider using a raised garden bed which allows you to control the soil and nutrient blend.
6. Talk to local farmers and other people you know that have their own garden; sometimes the best tips will come from people who have been doing it for a long time.