Tips For Growing Your Own Food (And Saving The Planet At The Same Time)

Growing your own food might sound like a massive hassle. But as it turns out, not only is it easier than most people imagine, but it’s also a lot of fun too. Not only do you get the satisfaction of growing produce yourself, but you also get access to a range of tasty, flavorful fruits and vegetables, all organic, and some of which aren’t available from the store.

So how do you grow all the food you need? Take a look at these tips.

Used Raised Beds

Although raised beds might sound like a hassle, the truth is that they work. Raised beds help to elevate the soil above ground level, helping to increase the temperature and making it easier to plant earlier. If you want to be able to plant in the early spring, then either make your own raised bed with pieces of wood and stakes or buy a prefab unit - something you can just stick on top of your soil. Raised beds are easy to cover, protecting plants underneath from damage by pests or frost.

Invest In Hydroponics

Thanks to the rise of industrial-scale hydroponics, DIY hydroponics is becoming a real thing. Hydroponics is a method of growing food without the use of soil. Instead, the roots of the plants dangle in a nutrient-dense water solution, allowing you to grow crops both horizontally (like in a regular field), but also vertically too. Hydroponics systems are usually enclosed entirely, meaning that you don’t have to worry about pesticides or protecting plants from the elements. What’s more, if you’re low on space, hydroponics is an excellent way to use the vertical space available to grow much more food than if you were limited to square footage. Hydroponics essentially deals with many of the problems of conventional crop growing, like tending to the soil, growing at only certain times of the year, and so on, and replacing it with a kind of mini factory for plants, allowing you to produce more flexibly throughout the year.

Check Which Veggies Work Well Together

When planting vegetables, it’s often important to consider which vegetables complement each other. Some vegetables, like fennel, don’t tend to do well when planted close to others and may require a separate bed. Other plants, like dwarf varieties, tend to do much better overall when grown in close quarters since they do not compete with other nearby crops.

Plant Flowers Nearby

What do planting flowers have to do with growing your own food? It turns out that flowers play an essential role for people who grow outdoors. Flowers attract all kinds of beneficial insects to your garden, encouraging pollination, and keeping plants healthy.

Separate Allium Veggies

The allium family of vegetables includes garlic, leeks, and onion - staples of most home cooking. But they can have a detrimental effect on other common veggies, like asparagus, lettuce, and peas. Experienced growers always give allium vegetables a separate bed, well away from other plants in their patch.

Will you start growing your own vegetables and save the planet at the same time?