If you’ve ever tasted a fresh-from-the-vine, summer-ripened tomato, you know nothing in the grocery store can compare. But what are some of the other benefits of growing your own food? Here are 12 reasons to garden that should get you thinking and hopefully doing. Because everyone should have a garden. You know you want to.
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12 Reasons To Garden.
Growing a vegetable garden is smart for everyone! Whether you have an acre or two or a couple of pots on your balcony, everyone can grow at least some of their own food. And here are a few reasons why you should grow some too.
1) Fresh Produce Is More Nourishing
As soon as you pick a vegetable, it begins to lose its taste and nutritional value. By the time it is picked, processed, and shipped to you, it can be several days old. Vitamin C, for one, starts to diminish within hours of being picked.
The closer to your table it is grown, the more nutritious it will be for your family.
People who eat more fruits and vegetables are less likely to get cancer and chronic diseases, and it’s just so much easier to get more veggies into your diet when they are growing in your own backyard!
Related>> Vegetable Gardening for Beginners: How to Start a Garden Successfully
2) Fresh Produce Tastes Better
Once you pick your produce, the enzymes start working on breaking it down. The sooner you can get it to your table, the better it will taste. Also, your vegetables don’t have to be picked green for safe shipping.
3) You Know How Your Vegetables are Grown
When you grow your own vegetables, you know if they have pesticides or herbicides on them. You know if they are GMO.
You also know who picked them and how they were cleaned. That way, you know your family won’t get E. coli poisoning or some other bad nasty from your fresh salad.
4) Growing A Garden Is Cost-Effective
Have you priced those tomatoes in the grocery store? And Herbs are out of sight! You can buy a whole pack of seeds that will produce a year’s supply of each vegetable for the price of one week’s worth.
Yes, you will need a few supplies to get started, but once you get the basics, you can really save a lot of money if you choose to grow your own.
Related>> How To Start An Herb Garden For Better Health.
5) In Case Of Emergency / Self Sufficiency
In this time of bare shelves, it’s a comfort to know how to grow my own vegetables, and it’s also a good feeling knowing that if I lose my job or there is a major drought or crop failure, I have vegetables right outside my back door. I can also help take care of my neighbors. In times like these, we all need to know how to grow our food.
Related>> How To Start Container Gardening Like A Pro
6) Growing Local – Eating Local
Many like the idea of eating local. If we eat locally, we don’t have to ship our food all over the country. Fewer trucks on the road, etc. Well, you can’t get any more local than your own backyard.
7) The More You Garden, The Less You Have To Mow.
I would much rather look out at a bunch of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers growing in my garden than a wide expanse of grass that I have to take care of and won’t feed me anything. Just sayin’.
Don’t think you have a big enough yard to have a garden? Did you know you can grow most of the vegetables one person will eat in a year on just 1/10 of an acre? Even a few pots will supplement your grocery bill quite nicely.
Related>> The Beginner’s Garden Jumpstart
8) Reasons To Garden – Help The Bees
When you grow a wide variety of poison-free vegetables, you are helping the bee population. The bees are a very important commodity to protect. In recent years, the bee population has been declining. The more diverse and continual pollen available from a vegetable garden will make for healthier bees.
Related>> 10 Things To Know Before You Start Beekeeping.
9) Teach The Next Generation
One of the best reasons to garden is to teach our children and grandchildren. A garden is an outdoor classroom. What a great way to teach young people about nature, about where their food comes from, and about healthy eating habits. They are also more likely to eat vegetables if they have grown them themselves.
Gardening helps children connect with nature. They will also get great pride in the accomplishment of helping provide the food for the table.
Buy Your Seeds>> SeedsNow
10) Gardening Connects You With Family And Neighbors
Almost everyone likes it when you share the produce from an overabundant garden. What a great way to get to know your neighbors. Your family will appreciate you thinking of them with all that wonderful bounty, too.
Related>> 12 Easy Vegetable For Beginning Gardeners
11) New Varieties
Some things just don’t ship well or are unknown to the local palate, so they are not grown commercially. But in your own garden, the sky is the limit. You can try all kinds of new things. Try 3 different kinds of pumpkins if you like to see which one grows betst in your area.
Or find a new thing to try, like ground cherries. I had never heard of it, and now I wouldn’t have a garden without it. And tomatoes, there are sooooo many varieties! You can only get a few at the store.
12) Gardening Is Good For You
Not only is gardening good exercise. It is good for your spirit. Gardening is a great stress reliever.
Garden For Pure Enjoyment! Get out in the fresh air and dig in the dirt. Listen to the birds or the squirrels in the trees. And watch your food grow. Play in the dirt and get vegetables too!
Frequently Asked Questions
Is growing your own food really worth it?
Yes. Growing your own food can save money, provide fresher produce, improve flavor, and give you peace of mind knowing how your food was grown. Even a small garden can be worthwhile.
Can beginners grow their own food successfully?
Absolutely. Many beginner gardeners start with easy crops like lettuce, radishes, herbs, green beans, and tomatoes. Start small and learn as you go.
What if I don’t have much space for a garden?
You don’t need a large yard. Many vegetables and herbs grow well in containers, raised beds, patios, balconies, or even sunny windowsills.
Does growing your own food save money?
It can, especially when growing expensive or frequently purchased foods like herbs, tomatoes, peppers, salad greens, and berries. Starting from seed often saves even more.
Why does homegrown food taste better?
Produce tastes best when picked ripe and eaten quickly. Garden-grown fruits and vegetables can be harvested at peak ripeness instead of early for shipping, which often improves flavor.
What are the easiest foods to grow at home?
Some of the easiest foods for beginners include lettuce, spinach, green onions, zucchini, bush beans, cherry tomatoes, and herbs like basil and parsley.
Related>> What To Plant In Your Vegetable Garden.
Benefits Of Growing Your Own Food
Now that you’ve read all 12 reasons to garden, there is no time like the present to start. Collect the supplies, read all about gardening, look through the seed catalogs, and decide what you want to plant.
Start composting so you have something to feed your plants. Maybe start some herbs on the windowsill. Remember, gardening doesn’t have to be a full-time job. A few minutes on the weekend is all you need to grow a “salad” in pots. Start small, but start! There’s just too much to miss out on if you don’t!
How To Start A Vegetable Garden From Scratch.
12 Ways To Make Weeds Go Away – Naturally.
Start Seedling Inside Like A Pro.
Start An Instant Garden, Build, And Plant The Same Day.
Microgreens – How To Grow Them – The Beginners Guide.
Are you ready to learn to garden? Take a class!
The Beginner’s Garden Jumpstart
Happy Backyard Homesteading!
I believe everyone can grow at least part of their own food! Let me show you how.
Mary is a gardener, backyard homesteader, and duck wrangler. She is also the owner and writer of LifeIsJustDucky.com and AGoodWordADay.com. (for daily devotions) Mary is passionate about helping others expand their backyard homesteading skills and learn to be more self-sufficient, no matter where they live.
Yes, yes, and yes! Couldn’t agree more! One of my top reasons to garden is preserving the harvest by canning ,drying, or freezing! We are still enjoying the bounty of our summer garden while we wait for the fall/winter harvest! Mmm….nothing better than pickled jalapenos and heirloom tomatoes!
OOOOH! What a great idea! Pickled jalapenos. That’s wonderful that you had such great results from you garden. Thanks for stopping by.
Love the way you think. Gardening is lots of fun. I love working in my yard and garden. If you have more than you can use their is always someone who can use it. The local soup kitchen is one
Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the good idea. There are so many ways to use the surplus from the garden. Everyone enjoys fresh produce.