If you were told that there was a way for you to eat healthier and more delicious food while saving a truckload of money, wouldn’t you jump at the opportunity? If so, take a look at this article and start learning how to grow your own food!

“Eating with the fullest pleasure — pleasure, that is, that does not depend on ignorance — is perhaps the profoundest enactment of our connection with the world,” wrote Wendell Berry in What are People For?, his book on economic growth, consumerism and the dangers humankind and the rest of the natural world face if they continue.

But… Why?

There are a myriad of different reasons you might want to consider growing some or most of your own food. Here are a few:

• Save money: groceries will cost you much less if you are picking fresh food from your garden minutes before you start dinner.
• Reduce your environmental impact: food sold in stores is usually grown inorganically with the use of chemicals, pesticides and other harmful products. Along with this, the transport of fresh food across the world uses a large amount of fossil fuels we could do without wasting.
• Improve your own health and that of your family: as we all know, eating more fresh fruit and vegetables is crucial for a healthy and well-balanced diet.
• Yummier food: organically grown fruit and vegetables have proven themselves in the taste department time and time again!
• No more food-safety scares! When foodstuffs are recalled due to health hazards or safety violations, you won’t have to worry – you know exactly where your food is coming from.
• Reduce food waste: when you have grown your own food, it will be much harder to throw away without a second thought, as we tend to do with store-bought food, which leads to an enormous level of senseless waste.

Get started

No matter the space you have available, the climate you live in or the experience you have in gardening, growing your own food is not only possible, but can be incredibly easy if you follow some basic steps.

• Take stock of the space you have available – whether it be a small patch, a large open field, a flowerbed or even some pots on your kitchen windowsill – and do some research to find out what kinds of plants suit it best.
• Areas that experience sun all year round will be best suited to most produce, but avoid spaces too close to buildings or fences so as to avoid possible contamination with metals, concrete and paint.
• Remove all debris from the ground in which you want to do your planting, including rocks, weeds and stones.
• Stop using all pesticides, fungicides and weed killers in your garden – this is non-negotiable if you want a healthy, cheap and sustainable alternative to grocery-shopping.
• Turn the earth in your selected space, covering it with organic materials such as leaves, compost, and other plant matter – also, find a bucket or two of good compost or dark, crumbly, sweet-smelling soil and spread it thinly over your patch, mixing it with the top 5-7cm of soil. The more creepy crawlies, the better!
• Keep your soil damp, but not soggy. The earth needs oxygen as well as water to sustain growth. For this reason, you also should not walk on your patch – this compacts the soil.
• Obtain plant in small pots, seedlings or seeds from friends or organic nurseries, taking care to follow the planting and growing instructions for each type of plant.
• Start your own compost heap in a corner of your garden. It’s simple – just chuck any clean organic materials you have on it, turning it occasionally and keeping it damp. You can add this compost to soil in a 50/50 mixture to grow your own seeds, or to your garden in a light layer.

These are some basic steps for starting and maintaining your own vegetable patch – there are millions of websites, books, magazines and other helpful resources dedicated to the same goal. Make use of them as well as knowledgeable friends and acquaintances that would be happy to share their experience with you.

Happy growing – happy eating!

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