For a lot of people with enough space in the garden, the question of self reliance becomes a more discussed topic – for some it’s a matter of time, others are on the fence.
The truth is that we have gotten more and more used to the convenience of shopping in a store and storing our fruits and veggies in the fridge, but there are some very good points towards making your own vegetable garden in the back yard.
What are the pros and cons of making a vegetable garden
For those of us who are considering growing our own produce there is a reason for it, the main one being the change of quality and the freshness of the produce.
The way stores get their produce is through trucks, if in season most of the vegetables are driven from the grower, to a distributor and then to the store – at least this is the case with big named stores.
In order to last longer, some of the produce is sprayed with a fine mist of water which preserves their freshness, other stores use flash freezing to stop the decomposition which starts the moment the plant is picked. This affects the taste of the vegetables and makes them a lot quicker to spoil afterwards.
Benefits of growing your own produce
One of the main reasons people do it is because they want to know what they eat, so they choose to grow tomatoes, spinach, carrots, cabbage and other species most commonly used at home.
At first it might seem daunting, especially if you have not done it before, but the feeling of picking the fruits of your labor makes the veggies taste a lot better.
Home grown spices, herbs, fruits and vegetables also have less pesticide in them which manes healthier digestive system, compared to the store bought produce.
Most of the time when you buy something for the store it seems fresh and it looks fresh but it lacks any taste at all – this is due to genetic modifications that make it grow faster but don’t account for the taste.
Down sides of growing your own food
The maintenance involving a garden of your own is quite substantial, after all you are dealing with living things that you want to harvest from later on, so you need to take care of them regularly.
Watering and spraying for pests as well as allocating the needed space is something to consider, though the benefits of such an investment might outweigh the investment itself.
