If you’re trying to live a green life, knowing where your food comes from is probably one of your priorities. But even when you do your research and buy locally, you can’t know exactly what happens to your food before it gets to your plate. One way that you can know for sure is by growing the food yourself. Some people keep chickens or other animals if they have space. But even if you don’t have a large yard to keep animals, you can still create a vegetable or herb garden, or perhaps grow some fruit. You’ll be completely in charge of what happens to your food – at least, as far as you’re able to control nature.
Find Space to Grow
Before you can grow any food, you need somewhere to do it. Hopefully, you have some space outside your house that you can use. It might currently have flowers or other plants, grass, or perhaps nothing. You’ll need to prepare the area for growing your food to make sure that what you plant has the best chance of growing. Remember that you can use plants that grow together to maximize your space. If you don’t have any outdoor space, you can still grow some things. Perhaps you have a balcony or even window ledges where you can place some pots. Lots of people grow herbs in their kitchen.
Choose What to Grow
If you’ve decided to grow your own food, you need to pick what you’re going to grow. Your choices need to depend on more than just what you like. You also need to consider the space and the conditions you have available. Many plants will grow better in different climates, soils, and other conditions. Of course, you should think about what you’re going to use too. There’s no point having lots of fresh herbs if you aren’t going to use them. You can find herbs, vegetables and fruit plants for a garden home-growing exercise.
Tending to Your Crops
If you want to grow your food successfully, you need to pay attention to your crops. There are some plants that don’t need much attention. However, most of the time you will need to try and keep pests away or perhaps protect your plants from frost. If you’re worried about using pesticides, you can find natural remedies. For example, you can use a mild soap spray, neem oil or garlic or chili pepper spray.
Preserve Your Harvest
When it’s finally time to harvest your food, you might find out you have a bumper crop. You can do the neighborly thing and hand out some of your spoils. But it’s also a good idea to preserve your harvest so that it lasts longer. If you make pickles, chutneys, and jams or just store your food correctly, you can save them for later. This enables you to eat your homegrown food during the winter, as well as in the spring and summer.
Growing your own food is the best way to know where it comes from. If you’ve never done it before, it’s not hard to get started.
