Why YOU Should Start A Vegetable Garden

Five reasons why I love gardening and why I suggest you start your own!

Happy Thursday! I’m all about sharing delicious recipes, but I’m planning to throw some healthy lifestyle posts into the mix! Eating healthy has really sparked my interest in an overall healthy life, including caring for the environment, using healthy beauty products and essential oils, and gardening, which is what today’s post is all about!

Gardening is one of my newest obsessions. I don’t know why, but I still can’t get over the fact that I can plant a little seed and end up with tons of vegetables. It’s AMAZING. I’m well aware that it’s the end of summer and it’s a little silly for me to be posting about gardening now, but I wanted to share this while it was fresh in my mind and hopefully it will encourage you to start your own garden next year 🙂

You may be like me and live on a farm with a huge garden or you may live in the city and have only enough room for a balcony garden. No matter your situation, there’s always a way to make gardening work!

So why do I love gardening?:

You know where your food comes from

Is this really organic? What farm grew these vegetables? Questions you’ll never have to ask if you have your very own garden. There are few things more satisfying than walking outside to pick a vegetable to add to a meal. Although the USDA gives farmers certified organic product labels, it is so difficult to know how your produce was grown and what chemicals were used. Also, I feel like my produce is so much better just because I give my garden so much love!

Encourages healthier eating

This year my garden included: swiss chard, green beans, sugar snap peas, green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, banana peppers, habanero peppers, tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, butternut squash, onions, beets, and carrots, along with some potted herbs, kale, and lettuce on my porch. That’s a huge list of veggies, huh? Whether I liked it or not, I was somehow incorporating some type of vegetable into my meals everyday because otherwise it would be wasted.

Provides fresh and delicious produce

The taste of a home grown vegetable just does not even compare to a store-bought one. I remember as a child my sister and I would jump out of the swimming pool and run to the garden for a handful of green beans and cherry tomatoes. The vegetables taste so much fresher and crisper picked right of the garden! If you want fresh produce, that’s the freshest you can get.

Saves you money

There are many upfront investments for a garden: seeds or plants, dirt if you need it, raised beds if you use them, plant food, garden gloves, tomato cages, shovels and rakes, a hose or watering can, and your time. This may seem like a lot, but you end up saving so much money on groceries in the long run (plus you get all the other benefits in this post). You can start your own plants with seeds, or purchase from a local greenhouse or farm. Our local technical school teaches a class on gardening and has their own greenhouse, so my mom and I purchase our plants from there for cheap!

Great for your mental health

Planting seeds and pulling weeds is just so therapeutic for me. No need to make time for meditation–just go out to your garden and spend time by yourself caring for your little plants. Getting out in nature is known to have numerous health benefits, such as lowering stress and boosting your immune system. Like I said before, I just get so happy running out to the garden to pick a vegetable, especially when I notice new plants are popping up or new vegetables are growing. Plus, one of our pastures is next to the garden, so sometimes I get visitors from my cow friends! Which obviously makes me even happier.

If there is absolutely no way for you to start a garden where you live, I encourage you to talk to a family member or friend about starting one together at their place, buy from farmers markets, or just pay attention to the quality of the produce you buy at the grocery store.

I strayed away from writing a post with gardening tips, because I’m no expert and I’m still learning everyday. I’ve learned what I know from family and searching online, and would be happy to try to answer any questions you may have!

I’m starting to get a little sad, because I know my time with my garden is slowly fading as fall approaches. I am considering starting a fall garden, have some herbs growing inside, and you best believe I’ll be spending the off season researching all I can for next year’s garden!

Do you have a garden? What do you love about it?

 

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