Greetings All!
Another week, another post. We are in the dead of winter when everything is brown, trees looks like skeletons, the weather frigid, wet and bleak, and there seems to be no color anywhere. This has inspired me to bring about the topic of vegetable gardening. There is nothing I love more than having a grocery buggy and fridge full of colorful fruits and vegetables. Not only are fruit and veggies nutritious, but growing them on your own is environmentally friendly, sustainable, and saves you money! Starting a garden of any kind can seem intimidating, especially if you’re a beginner and can barely keep a house plant alive. I myself used to fall in that category. Just to demonstrate how bad, I successfully killed a cactus – a plant you just leave alone in the sun and it survives. Embarrassing, right? Luckily, there are simple ways to ensue your first vegetable garden doesn’t end in a massacre.
If like most people who aren’t already avid gardeners, you don’t already have ready-made soil and a garden or greenhouse just waiting to be filled with veggies. A simple alternative is building planter boxes to plant your vegetable garden. These are exactly what they sound like – large boxes made from wood you plant plants in. They can be easily constructed for about $30 to $40, or less, and all the materials can either be found around the house or purchased at a local home improvement store. But if you’re like me, I shuck all the building work to my husband, sit back with a drink, and supervise.
When choosing what to plant, I always recommend planting a salad. Meaning vegetables such as lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, squash and green beans are considered to some of the easiest crops to grow and do well in planter boxes and large pots. Always remember, vegetables are heartier than you think and adapt well, but they will still need continuous care to thrive.
Growing your own food can be a satisfying accomplishment. Aside from that, it has other benefits as well. It helps reduce food waste and positively impacts the environment by cutting down on carbon emissions. Think of it as a domino effect, the less produce that is transported from commercial farmers, the less burning of fossil fuels, such as gasoline, and continuing to reduce plastic waste in the forms of cardboard and plastic for packaging. There is also the obvious health benefit. If you grow your own food, you have control over what goes into your food. Home gardens allow for the avoidance of carcinogenic pesticides and fertilizers. And last but, not least, the fact that growing your own food saves you money! Always a positive in my book. Depending on many factors, people have saved upwards of $600 on their monthly grocery bill and $2,000 per year on produce groceries. Basically, growing your own food is good for the environment, and good for your wallet. A win-win, folks.
Until next time,
Mare
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