The benefits of vegetable gardening

I recently posted about the benefits of growing your own roses, so while i am in the green fingered mindset, lets talk about vegetables. There are many benefits to growing your own vegetables – they’re cheaper, fresher, reduce your carbon footprint, and taste much better too.  You don’t need a large garden or fancy gardening equipment hire tools to grow crops for your family. You can start by growing plants in containers on the patio or in window boxes and enjoy watching them grow.

Growing your own veg can be a great way to save money.

To keep costs low, the best way to start vegetable gardening is to visit the garden centre and check out seed packets on sale.  Before deciding which varieties to buy, check the packet to ensure the season is right for planting and no special equipment is needed.

It’s best to start growing plants such as lettuce, watercress, runner beans and spring onions as these plants grow quickly and are easy to grow.  The seeds can be started off in seed trays, washed yoghurt pots, butter containers or anything available.  Plant in organic compost, according to the instructions and don’t forget to water regularly.  The small seedlings will soon be ready to move to larger pots and eventually the garden.

Make sure that the vegetable plot is in an area that receives enough sunshine for the plants to thrive.  Also check there is shelter from winds. Thoroughly dig and aerate the soil using either a good quality spade or garden fork, add organic fertilizer and top soil to give young plants the best start.  Although this is the hardest part of vegetable growing, don’t stint on this as soil quality is essential for plants to flourish.

Dig out furrows and water thoroughly ready for planting.  When the young plants have reached the required height to plant out, follow the guidelines on the seed packet, spacing the plants the desired length apart.  Don’t be tempted to plant too closely together as plants will become tangled and fail to receive enough sunlight.  If you have too many young plants it’s great to share the surplus with friends and family.  They may return the favour, enabling you to grow two crops for the price of one.

When starting to grow vegetables stick with basic crops,  leave exotic plants until you have gained greater expertise.  If you tend and nourish the plants, ensuring that they’re kept weeded and watered, you will be rewarded with great crops of home grown vegetables which taste amazing.