Growing your own Food
Christmas is over, a new year has begun and with that a new gardening season gets started. This time of the year provides the perfect opportunity to begin planning the gardening season.
Gardening Plans for the year ahead – Herb your enthusiasm!
Thinking about what to plant and looking back at notes from previous years is a great place to start. Make notes every time about your gardening activities and experiments. Aspects that you may want to revisit may include:
- What went wrong
- What worked
- Uncharacteristic weather that may have had an impact on your crops
- Other particular patterns and circumstances of previous seasons which will show what to look for or to avoid.
There are plenty of gardening notebooks that would guide you through this logging activity.
Once you have reviewed your notes, use that previous experience for the season ahead. Decide what new foods you want to try and sketch your growing needs in the available space to help you make the best use of the resources at hand.
Things to consider include: Companion Planting, space between plants and water/sun requirements.
How to plan the space – Cutting it vine!
Fortunately for me, I have access to an allotment. Which is approximately 3/4 of a tennis court and provides a generous space to grow my very own organic food. The love, energy and enthusiasm that goes into the months leading to the harvest season are phenomenal. However, often space is a luxury, so if unlike me, you don’t have access to a patch of land to garden, don’t panic, there are some alternatives. A sunny spot such as a windowsill or a balcony in your house or flat should be enough to get you started. Have fun creating ways of extending your crop within the constraints of your space. This useful link will give you tips on how to grow some food in containers, but a quick pinterest search will give you plenty of other options and spark ideas.
If you are lucky enough to have a backyard, that’s your veggie patch space sorted. There are a plethora of online guides and useful hacks to guide you through the growing season depending on your corner of the world and growing desires.
Planting and Harvesting – Take a leaf of faith
Watching with anticipation each shoot grow is very rewarding.
Harvesting and cooking your very own grown food will no doubt make you feel like a proud veggie mama. All in all, gardening and growing my own food gets a big thumps up from me.
Yet, like everything, there are ups and downs. Sometimes, things go wrong, all seasons are different, some are too hot, or too cold, or to wet. This is normal, and part of the art. All you can do is try your best to give your little crop a chance and let nature do the rest. Don’t however feel shy to let a hand to nature from time to time. Get creative trying to protect your crops from the elements and predators. It’s Fun and there are myriad of natural and homemade deterrents to help you.
More benefits of gardening – Eat, drink and be rosemary!
The elephant in the room here is freshness. Homegrown fruit and vegetables are picked at their peak which ensures they are packed with nutrients, antioxidants and flavour.
Another big benefit of growing your own food is sustainability. This practice can help reduce your environmental impact as well reduce your reliance on grocery store products, which are often packaged in non-recyclable materials.
Overall, this gardening practice provides many additional benefits to me, and I invite you to try for yourself and find your own patch (pun intended!). Gardening and working with soil is often exhausting – so there some calories go! But also grounding, humbling and therapeutic. Not to mention the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction it provides. In a world that spins way too fast at times, gardening stops time and helps me to slow down. During the pandemic, when all our lives were struck by a new world, gardening helped me a great deal to remain sane.
If green fingers is not your super power but want to try anyway, here are some ideas on easy veggies and plants to get you started. A few low maintenance/high reward plants to aid your motivation.
Give it a try and I would love to hear your experiences and experiments, and I would be happy to share some of my wisdom so feel free to ask me questions. Good luck!