Growing Veggies
I can hear you thinking that you have no clue about growing veggies. The truth is that you will be able to easily learn enough to be growing useful crops really quickly, and every session spent in your garden teaches you even more. You’ll learn much that’s unique to your own spot, like local soil conditions, your specific aspect in relation to the sun, and oddities that relate to your local microclimate. You’ll learn most of this by getting out and giving it a go.
The taste of home grown veggies is immensely superior to that of the commercially grown produce. Have you heard individuals complain that tomatoes no longer have any taste? They’ll have when you grow your own – you’ll never taste better. The lack of taste with the commercial crop isn’t all the fault of the growers, as they’re under pressure to produce a crop, of unvarying size and color, to the schedule of the wholesale market, and finally the supermarket. You set your own schedule.
The freshness of your own crop is a huge plus. Veggies I’ve bought from the supermarket, and stored in the refrigerator, have started to become inedible after a couple of days. I’ve had home grown produce still fresh in the refrigerator after two weeks!
Commonly, your home garden will produce a generous yield, and may readily help pay for the cost of growing them. You are able to effectively end up having free veggies. Summertime, particularly, is usually a time of abundance, even glut, as loved ones and friends leave your place with possibly more produce than they had expected to see. A tip – when giving away fresh produce, try to limit your generosity – it’s better to give a little amount to many rather than to give to the few more than they may really use.
Among the turn-offs to trying something you have not done before is the intimidating flood of information (and misinformation) you’ll receive.
If you’re browsing one of the major bookshops, you might find 100s of books on the topic – which do you purchase? To begin with, seek the simple, basic info. Don’t bother with those full of jargon – you’ll learn the technical terms as you go.
You’ll hear folklore from the family, like “Uncle Henry forever put … (you name it) … on his … (name it again)”. Folklore is part of our heritage, but there’s no guarantee of its usefulness. You’ll hear from the office genius, who has done nothing, but still knows all the answers – nod wisely, and then ignore him.
Plants evolved millions of years before mankind, and they actually wish to grow. It has been said that in a lot of cases plants grow despite what we do to help them. If you supply the basics, and these are reasonable nutrition and regular watering, Mother Nature does the rest – let her work for you.