Growing Your Own Food – The Benefits of a Productive Garden

For many years now the Government and environmentalists have been encouraging us to think about the planet and ways we can conserve its dwindling resources. We’ve been taught to reduce, re-use and recycle wherever possible and many of you will have taken that on board. But did you realise there’s also a way you can save money – by growing your own food. Food prices seem to be getting higher and higher and the quality is not all it’s cracked up to be. Supermarket shelves are stacked high with perfect looking produce but when it comes to taste you’ll find them sorely lacking. Growing your own produce may seem a little overwhelming but it really isn’t as difficult as it sounds. Even the smallest garden or patio space can be productive with just a little thought and planning. But growing your own has countless other benefits:

Health Benefits

• Eating fresh fruit and vegetables will have a huge impact on your family’s health. What is more by picking them straight from your garden you’ll benefit from the highest level of vitamins and nutrients. Studies have shown that children who are encouraged to eat produce from the garden are more likely to achieve the target of 5 portions a day than those who do not.

Reduce Waste

• Growing your own food leads to more respect and not taking it for granted as you’ve patiently nurtured it and watched it grow over several months. This means you’ll be less likely to throw it away than a kilo of tomatoes you’ve purchased from the supermarket. You’ll also find yourself looking for new ways to preserve the fruit and veg you can’t eat straight away by freezing, canning or putting into jars..

Saving Money

• A small packet of seeds costs just a few pence and with careful cultivation can produce plenty of productive plants. What is more you can save some of the seeds produced and use them next year, saving even more money. Bountiful crops mean you’ll have produce all year round as long as you find ways to preserve them such as freezing or canning.

Good Exercise

• Weeding, digging and even picking your crops means more outdoor exercise for you and your family. Gardening is also a marvellous way to de-stress after a hard day’s work in the office.

Eco-Reasons

• Gardening can help the planet in a variety of ways. Organic production, without the use of pesticides and herbicides means less air and water pollution. You’ll also be helping by using less fossil fuels. There’s no carbon footprint if you pick it in your garden and walk it into your own kitchen as opposed to driving to the supermarket and buying produce that has been flown from the other side of the world.

More Flavour

• There’s nothing tastier than food grown in your own garden. You can also enjoy ripe produce that is ready to eat. How many times have you bought something in the supermarket and had to wait several days for it to ripen, if it ripens at all.

Personal Pride

• Gardening is gratifying work. Buying a packet of seeds and nurturing and caring for it until it produces fruit is very satisfying indeed. You and your family benefit directly from the fruits of your labour, both in your health and the tasty dishes you can make.

Safety

• The global marketplace has made us all look more closely at the food we are eating and the conditions in which it has been grown. When you grow your own you know exactly what conditions it has been grown in, the chemicals that have or have not been used and the way it was stored. You don’t have to worry about any kind of outside contamination.

However growing your own fresh food does require time and effort and not every one of you will have this to spare. That’s when it’s time to call for help from a friend or professional. They’ll be able to prepare the soil, keep the weeds under control and a whole host of other services that’ll enable you to eat fresh fruit and vegetables all year long.