Days are getting warmer and as we leave home early on weekdays, for the school run, we see how the days are starting to get longer.
For any gardener and especially you, that grows or wanting to grow your own veggies at home this means that summer is coming, bringing along with it long days spending harvesting, storing and preserving food.
Food prices is going through the roof and it is more important than ever for us to learn new skills and equip yourself to be able to feed your family healthy nutritious food, that will assist in keeping your immune systems healthy and defend you against diseases.
Living in the city, you may not have the land to grow your own vegetables, but if you take a hard look at your garden/patio space, you might be very surprised that you can grow a vast amount of vegetables in a small area.
Since moving into our home in 2014 our garden has gone through MANY changes. In 2015 we started with the idea of growing our own vegetables and started taking out small patches of grass in our back garden and we made vegetable borders. A year later all the back grass was taken out and we only had veggie beds.
No, I did not have these fantastic harvests from my first year. Cabbage was always attacked by the cabbage butterfly and I could never grow any kind of squash. Tomatoes have always been a success and it is really easy to grow tomatoes for me.
My veggie garden was young, my soil not nutritious enough, not enough bees to pollinate fruits, but I was determinate to have a flourishing veggie garden.
I believe that there is no better teacher than hands on experience. I went for a gardening course, I learned all about soil humus, companion planting, natural pesticides and I jumped into the garden determinant and full of energy.
7 years later, we have done major changes to the garden. Our front grass was taken out, and we even filled our pool. Yes, we had so much fun in the pool, but water restrictions, cost of water and power to keep the pump going and a growing need to grow more food, filling the pool was for us the best decision.
We have grass left in the main back garden, but we keeping it for Michael and Dad to play rugby on. But o boy! I have plans for that sections once Michael is a bit bigger.
We are blessed with a large garden, but take a hard look at your home. Try and find a space that you can grow food in. Containers are a great vessel to grow vegetables in and you can get creative and make it into a feature.
Chillies, lettuce, kale, spinach, herbs, tomatoes and even carrots, if you container is deep enough, all grow fantastic in containers.
Container gardening is also beneficial if you need to move your containers around to chase the sun.
One of the benefits of starting a vegetable is that you really save money on your monthly food bill. Have you seen the increase of food prices? Then we not even talking about the price of organic produce, and lets face it. Is it really organic?
Being outside in the fresh air and sunshine can improve your mood and make you feel rejuvenated and overall happy.
Growing your own veggies also gives you a great sense of accomplishment.
We need to STOP wasting food.
It is said that in South Africa 10 MILLION tons of food goes to waste in our country every year! That is shocking!!!
Growing your own veggies at home, you really do get very creative with all your fresh produce. Soon you will find that you are including veggies in most of your meals.
Visit your local garden centre this weekend. Go get your first 6 pack seedlings. This is a beautiful time of the year to start planting. Start with one small bed, start with one raised container. JUST START!
Happy planting my friend. Stay safe and healthy.
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