Sensible Sustainability - Home Gardening
Starting a Home Vegetable Garden is Green!
Have you ever thought about starting a home garden? With more time being spent at home and an increased effort to become more self-sustainable, home gardening has taken off in a big way. Home gardening is a hobby that can bring great joy, enable some free exercise, and bring the family together. Although it might not sound the most exciting on the surface, you should give it a chance if you enjoy the outdoors and are interested in reaping the rewards of hard work.
Benefits
Flexibility
You don’t need a huge yard to have your own garden. No matter how much space you have, you can always find room for a few plants.
Stress Relief
Digging in the dirt and watching your veggies grow each day is incredibly rewarding. You are outdoors, getting exercise, and often takes your mind of other stresses in life.
Family Friendly
For some, gardening is a solo activity. But your spouse or children can also join in on the fun. It can be tough to find activities for the whole family to participate in without spending a bunch of money (or with social distancing) but working in the garden together costs nothing.
Save Money
For many people, this may be the number one reason to start a garden. If saving money of fruits and vegetables is your end goal, make sure you plant seeds for things you’ll actually enjoy eating. Some of the most popular options include tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, zucchini and squash. There will most likely be failures and successes. However, you can maximize the money you save by being smart about what you grow. For instance, cool weather crops like carrots, potatoes, onions, and winter squash can be stored for quite a long time. When these vegetables are harvested, you can easily store them in your basement or pantry for several weeks, or even months, if you keep them packed in sawdust. So even if you can’t eat them right away, they’ll keep long enough for you to use them up over time.
Green and Sustainable
Buying natural organic food can be expensive, but growing your own fruits and vegetables is the most organic you can get at just the right price!
How to Start
Step 1: Look at your sun availability. Where does your space get the most sun? How much does each area get? Many vegetables grow well in part shade, while others grow best in full sun.
What grows well in part shade?
Salad greens, such as leaf lettuce, arugula, endive
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Peas
Beets
Brussels Sprouts
Radishes
Swiss Chard
Leafy greens, such as collards, mustard greens, spinach, kale
Beans
What grows well in full sun?
Tomatoes
Potatoes
Eggplant
Peppers
Squash
Corn
You can save money on your vegetables by purchasing from independent farmers and nurseries, or starting seeds yourself.
Step 2: Look at your space. Remember, you don’t need a lot of space to grow a garden. If you are working with limited space, then you’ll want to consider two options: container gardening or vertical gardening. For instance, you can grow tomatoes, herbs, and greens in containers or instead of planting a garden out, plant up. You can build outdoor shelving to have several layers of pots.
There are tons of creative (and frugal) ways to plant fruits and vegetables in your yard. Research how to maximize your space.
Step 3: Consider your watering needs. Is the site you’ve selected easily accessed by your water hose. It is important to analyze how you’re going to water your garden before you plant it.
Step 4: Plant your garden. Once you’ve analyzed light, selected a site, and prepared the garden, you can now start planting! Research the plants you’re growing so you’re informed on how much water they need. As a rule, it’s best to water either early in the morning or later in the evening; watering during the afternoon can actually burn your plants.
More Tips
Try starting seeds from scratch rather than buying established plants from a store. You’ll save money this way, although this does require more work.
Don’t waste money buying peat pots or other seed starting kits. Check with your local nursery; they likely have a ton of black plastic pots and plant trays they’d be happy to give you. You can also use egg cartons and plastic cups to start seeds in.
If you have a problem with birds and rodents eating your veggies, cut up an old garden hose into three or four feet segments. Animals will often mistake these for snakes, and steer clear of your garden. You could even get your kids involved by having them paint the hoses to look even more like snakes. Watch for more tips on preventing garden pests in an upcoming “Sensible Sustainability” post.