Vegetable Gardening

Growing a home vegetable garden was a necessity in the not-so-distant past. If you wanted fresh vegetables and sustenance for your family you had to plant a home vegetable garden. What wasn’t eaten fresh was preserved for later use, to be eaten mainly during the seasons when nothing could grow.

Gardening was a way of life back then; unlike today, where there are supermarkets with row upon colorful row of fresh vegetables to choose from. Many of the vegetables we buy are picked when they’re not ripe and are shipped hundreds and thousands of miles from other states and countries.

Why Plant a Home Vegetable Garden?

Planting a vegetable garden fell out of favor when people left the family farms and rural areas and moved into more urban areas. Along with these moves came higher paying jobs; people now had the money to go to the markets in the cities and buy what they needed.

But things have come full circle, again. Having enough food for their families has put many people on the path to growing their own home vegetable garden.

Today there are worries about food security and how foods are grown in agribusiness. When you raise your own vegetables, you don’t have to worry about GMO’S or pesticides and herbicides being used on the food you eat.

The benefits of the vegetables that you grow yourself are immense; the vegetables are much tastier, have more nutrients, and don’t have unwanted chemicals. The vegetables out of your own home vegetable garden can be picked and eaten at the peak of ripeness. And, the vegetables you grow are cheaper than the ones bought at the supermarket.

A gardener’s investment is mainly the physical labor that they put into their home vegetable garden; but it’s worth it to know you have food security. You’re also getting fresh air, sunshine and exercise!

There are thousands of vegetable varieties that you can only plant from seeds. This gives you the opportunity to try new varieties of vegetables that can’t be found in the supermarkets.

Think you don’t have any room for a garden? Home vegetable gardens can be put just about anywhere in the yard. Do you have unused flower beds or some scraggly shrubs alongside the house that need to come out? You can clean the areas up and plant vegetables.

Live in an apartment with a balcony? Grow some vegetables in containers. Do you have physical limitations? Grow vegetables in raised beds if you have room or five-gallon buckets or totes that can be moved around. There are also grow bags that come in different gallon sizes. These have handles and can be moved around fairly easily depending on the size.

Vegetables can be planted in just about anything that is big enough for their root system. Even a small kitchen garden by the back door can produce enough vegetables to supplement your diet and cut your grocery bill.

A small vegetable garden, if carefully planned for a succession of vegetables most of the year, can supply you with all the fresh vegetables you can use with a substantial amount for preserving by canning, drying or freezing.

And, if you’re new to home vegetable gardening check out How to Start a Garden.

Home vegetable gardening is more than a satisfying hobby; it’s one way to make sure that you and your family have access to healthy food when there is none to be found.

everydayvegetablegardening.com has information to help you in your quest for food security. Vegetable garden planning, how to grow your own vegetables, pests and diseases, harvesting your garden, saving seed, preserving your harvest and so much more can be found here.

Happy home vegetable gardening!