It’s no secret that we’re not expert gardeners…but we try. And we’d encourage you to do the same. We’re always learning the ins and outs of home grown vegetables and whilst we don’t always have as much time as we would like to dedicate to our veggie patch, the time we do spend usually reaps rich rewards.
There are loads of reasons why growing your own organic vegetables is a good thing to do. It’s something my parents always did and something we like to encourage our children to enjoy too. If you’re not convinced…take a look at our Top 8 Reasons why home grown vegetables rock.
1. Growing Your own Vegetables is Cheaper
We eat a lot of vegetables in our house and the cost of buying good quality veg to keep us all going for the week really mounts up. And that’s not even after a cyclone where certain veg are commanding eye watering prices…. Even without cyclones though, price fluctuations can be frequent and extreme which can make shopping on a budget pretty tough.
So, having a consistent supply of healthy, organic food that you and your family enjoy eating is a great way to save money. I make a trip to our veggie patch nearly every day to source herbs and greens for dinner and I know that with each visit I make, I could collect around $10 worth of produce.
With the cost of seeds or seedlings being minimal, it makes total financial sense to grow your own organic vegetables.
2. You Know What has (or has not) been Sprayed on Your Veggies
Unless you buy organic vegetables, the chances are that the produce you get from the shops has been sprayed with synthetic insecticides and fertilised with chemicals. We might be able to wash off residues of the bad stuff, but some will have been absorbed and will actually be IN the food.
If you grow your own organic vegetables, you are in complete control of what is in and on your food.
3. Home Grown Vegetables are Convenient
Do you want to knock up something healthy and colourful for dinner but haven’t had time to go to the shops..?? If you grow your own organic vegetables, a healthy meal is never far away. Whether you’re fancying a stir fry, a side of greens or need some herbs to add flavour, if it’s just outside your door, you can’t get more convenient than that!!
And yes…. I concede there is a little more prep work involved in picking, digging up and then trimming and washing your own veg, but I think the advantages far outweigh the negatives of this small job.
4. Vegetables don’t come any Fresher
If you pick stuff from your garden to eat for dinner, it goes from being on the plant in your garden or in the ground, to being on your plate in a matter of minutes. There is not much fresher…
Supermarket fruit and veg has been picked and stored for goodness knows how long and in that time, fresh produce can lose a lot of its flavour and goodness. And if it doesn’t, it may well have been treated with something dodgy to make sure it stays looking fresh…even though it is anything but.
5. It’s Healthy
We all know vegetables are good for us but it can be a struggle to include enough veg in our daily diets. When you have taken the trouble to grow your own organic vegetables and your garden rewards you with a bounty of beautiful home grown vegetables…you’d be mad not to eat them!!
We had a bumper bean harvest a few years ago which changed the way our family eats for the better. There was no way I was going to let these amazing beans go to waste, so I got inventive and creative with recipes so eating a large quantity of beans every single day did not seem boring at all.
Granted…that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you do end up with an oversupply, you can always freeze or preserve your veg for later use when the garden is not so productive.
And just like that, you’ve upped your veg intake by 100%.
6. Gardening get’s You Outside
It’s been shown that even as little as fifteen minutes a day spent in nature can be beneficial for your health and wellbeing. And fifteen minutes can be a really productive time in the vegetable garden if you do a bit of weeding or crushing/flicking/scrubbing off of caterpillars….
My father and father-in-law both swear by the ‘ten minutes hoeing a night’ rule to keep weeds at bay and whilst this is something I don’t do (I have a rebellious streak), I am in the vegetable garden regularly whether it’s for watering, weed control or collecting vegetables for dinner.
It’s a nice bit of time out from my desk, it’s fresh air and it’s a really productive, yet relaxing time. Although not so relaxing when I see new families of caterpillars making homes on my greens Gggrrrrr…
7. This is High Quality Food
A lot of the food available today is significantly lower in nutrients than it was just 50 years ago. That means that even if we eat lots of conventionally grown veg, we might not be getting the benefits from it that we hope for. This is due to eroding soil health which lacks nutrients – a result of mass production and a volume/cost driven supply chain.
If you look after your soil, fertilise it, nourish it well with compost and apply some of the basic principles of organic gardening in your own garden, your home grown vegetables will not only taste better than the mass produced alternatives, but your harvest will be full of nutrients and better for you too.
8. Teach Your Children About Gardening/Growing
Getting your kids outside and helping in the garden has huge benefits. It gets them away from the TV or off the iPad and out into the fresh air. It teaches them about where food comes from (NOT in a packet from the supermarket) and how rewarding growing your own food can be.
We also like to share the chores around in our house and teach our children that as they are part of our family and household, they have to contribute by helping out occasionally…!! Getting them into the veggie patch for half an hour every so often is a great way to get them helping but also to give them a rewarding project.
Children are normally very keen seed sowers and they take a real interest when what they’ve planted starts to grow. It’s even better when they can go and harvest the results of their work and actually enjoy eating their home grown vegetables!! I have yet to generate any great enthusiasm for weeding…but even a little five minute stint before their interest wanes is useful.
So, it’s cheaper, the kids enjoy it, the veg is better for us… what’s not to love..??!!! Growing your own vegetables can be such a rewarding experience, so get out into the garden and get growing!!
To give your home grown vegetables a flying start be sure to read our blog post – Organic Gardening: 6 Key Principles to Help Your Garden Flourish.
