Do you want to save money while also having healthier food choices? If you do, you should consider growing food at home by gardening. Not only do you no longer have to drive to the supermarket to buy them but you will also learn to appreciate the value of planting.
So, how should you exactly start? After all, not everyone has a sizable yard for growing large fruits and vegetables. Let us guide you to three different ways to grow your own food. With our help, you should be able to determine the best way to begin growing food right at home.
Vertical Gardening
If you only have a small space and you also want to make your area more aesthetically pleasing, you should grow food through vertical gardening. This method works best for bushy plants and climbing plants. If you’ve always wanted to grow fresh tomatoes, peas, and gourds, this is the perfect gardening method for you.
As a type of the square foot gardening, vertical gardening is not costly. All you really need are steel frames and some nylon netting. Moreover, this method is great for both vining plants and those on the ground. Since the vining plants are not on the ground, they won’t accidentally be crushed or be devoured by pests. Other plants on the ground also won’t have to fear having reduced sunlight when the vining plants begin to spread.
In addition, people who want to grow their own food without exerting much physical effort should try vertical gardening. You do not have to bend or kneel for a lengthy amount of time to manage and harvest the crops unlike when you’re doing the traditional form of gardening.
Container Gardening
Another method that does not necessarily demand a lot of space is container gardening. Nearly all vegetables can be grown in a container, especially if you pick the dwarf variants. If you do want to grow the normal-sized variants of vegetables, you just have to provide bigger containers. For starters, the best vegetables for container gardening include lettuce, carrots, peppers, radishes, and tomatoes.
If you’re not sure which vegetables to plant, we recommend trying a salad-themed vegetable container garden. This just needs a single container ranging from 25 to 30 inches in size to accommodate tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, and chives. You won’t even have to worry about the water and sunlight distribution as they all require the same amount.
Finding containers for gardening is easy. You can use pails, buckets, plastic bags, flower pots, and even wire baskets. As long as they have holes at the bottom for excess water drainage, many types of containers will do fine. However, take note that dark-colored containers could damage the roots due to their heat absorption.
Lastly, remember that vegetables in containers should be watered more frequently than those planted on the ground. You also have to increase the amount as the plants grow their root systems. If you wait until you see signs of wilting, they might not grow properly.
No-Dig Vegetable Gardening
This type of vegetable gardening effectively reduces the amount of physical work needed for gardening while also granting sufficient soil fertility. Thus, a no-dig garden can make your soil rich enough for vegetables to grow. Whether you want vegetable seedlings, herbs, or bulbs, they can all be grown through this method.
Why should you consider this method? Well, there is a great appeal to no-dig gardening due to its organic principle of keeping the soil largely undisturbed. Since digging isn’t encouraged, the worms residing in the soil are not prone to accidentally getting killed by digging tools. Furthermore, no-dig vegetable gardening values mulching to provide good living conditions for more worms to thrive in.
Speaking of mulching, the garden for this method is characterized by having several layers of organic material such as grass clippings, straw, manure, and compost. As these layers are placed on top of each other, your garden will start to have a distinctly raised bed containing rich soil. In turn, this fertile soil will invite microorganisms essential for plant growth and soil health.
All in all, you have three easy ways to start growing food at home. If you want to save space and grow vining plants, try vertical gardening. If you want various vegetables in a compact area, you should go with container gardening. If you want really fertile soil for growing various crops, go for no-dig vegetable gardening.
Regardless of what you choose, you will save money while also eating fresh produce harvested right in your own home.
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