Having your own vegetable patch
or fruit garden was once commonplace, over the years, however, growing your own
food fell out of favor as the food industry became more commercial and
supermarkets began to dominate the end of the food supply chain. I can still
remember the trip down south when I was a kid, to my mother's home state of
Texas, and meeting my relative there for the first time and the smells and
taste of the fresh food there.
To this day I can still remember how wonderful the fresh food
tasted to my young developing taste buds and how cool it was to be able to take
fresh fruits and nuts right off the tree and enjoy them. It was a big deal for
a city kid like me. I returned from that trip to my bowls of cereal and
TV-dinners and plenty of other processed foods; for a good part of my
existence, processed foods were a staple in my life.
In recent years, however, more and more people have started to
explore growing their own produce again and I'm happy to say that I am amongst
those dedicating a good part of my countertop acreage to grow their own food
and I came up with what I think are 5 good reasons why you might consider
starting your own kitchen garden.
My fruit trees are of the potted variety (dwarf fruit trees to be
exact) And while it would be nice to do, I am not suggesting you replace all of
the food you eat with your own homegrown choices. At this point in my indoor
farming experimentation, I only hope to grow a few of the fruits and herbs I
usually pay for, and of the 5 good reasons for growing your own fruit and
veggies reason number one is!
Freshness is the first reason to start growing your own fruit and
vegetables. Fruit and vegetables taste better and are healthier if eaten as
soon as possible after picking. Most fruit you buy from supermarkets and the
like is picked well before it is properly ripe, to extend shelf life, and that
usually has an impact on flavor. Growing your own lets you taste the freshest
possible produce as it's meant to taste, reason number two!
The second reason for growing your own fruits and veggies is
quality. Commercially grown crops are often selected for their high
yields, uniform appearance, and long shelf life rather than for quality and
taste and I wouldn't be surprised if there was even a process to try and
chemically replace some of the natural flavors of fruits and vegetables lost in
the above process based on some of the chemical additives I have read on
processed food labeling. When you grow your own, you can concentrate on the
quality rather than economics, which is what I hope to do, my third reason is
the price!
A lot of supermarket fresh produce is hugely overpriced, in my
opinion, despite the advertising claims. Growing your own from seed is about as
inexpensive as you can get, and even growing from small plants you buy is
likely to provide you better food at a lower cost, especially when it comes to
herbs. With many plants, you can use the seed from one growing season to
provide plants for the next creating your own planting base circle of life and
a self-sustaining cycle that will cost you only time and effort to keep going,
reason number four is provenance.
More and more people have concerns about how our food is processed,
and with chemical pesticides and genetically modified organisms or (GMOs) in
the food we eat I can honestly say that I share this particular worry but with
your own vegetable patch, you know exactly where your food is from and how it
was grown. My fifth and final reason is variety.
There are literally thousands of different varieties of fruit and
vegetables, but supermarkets tend to concentrate on only the most profitable
and easy to sell. This means that our choice is often limited to a few select
varieties of avocados or apple, for example, rather than the hundreds of
traditional kinds that exist. Growing your own lets you pick the varieties you
like the most, and experiment to find new ones you will rarely see on sale in
your local supermarket.
When it comes to fruit and vegetable variety I have been
experimenting with plant grafting techniques in an attempt to see if I can grow
a special variety of cherry or lemon from my full-grown cherry tree and my
draft lemon tree. So far not much luck but none of my plant patients have died.
If someday you should hear of and apple-cherry-plumb fruit, it just might come
from me, Dr. Hankenstein.
On a more serious note, I should point out that there can be a downside to growing your own fruits and veggies. I don't find the work to be hard but it is rather continuous, meaning it will take some time and effort especially if you're a beginner and decide to pick up some seed and give the above a try.
In these increasingly busy times, we might not think we
have the time to spare, but starting small with a few herb plants on a windowsill, or perhaps the odd tomato plant, could give you a taste of growing your
own food that just might be enough to hook you into growing your own peppers, onions,
or grapes for life!
