Growing your own vegies

I grew up in the country which probably explains my passion for my vegie gardens throughout my city slicker life. It excites me and soothes me at the same time and I just cannot resist sneaking out several times a day to see what’s new… really asparagus and snow peas seem to grow that quick!!!

Growing your own vegies can be so rewarding! Not only can you control what chemicals are covering and absorbed into your food, it can be a great way to de-stress. It is also great for kids, diverting their focus away from electronic games to the earth and mother nature.

You don’t need a 1/4 acre block to be able to enjoy home grown food. Even if you haven’t got a lot of space, time or motivation you can start with easy, space efficient vegies like carrots, sugar snap peas (kids will love eating them off the vine), radishes, spinach (baby leaves can be picked for salads and older leaves for cooking), cherry tomatoes (a hit with the  kids and I have found them to be more disease resistant than larger tomatoes), strawberries and herbs. These can all can be grown in pots.

If you have a little bit of earth to play with potatoes are sooo easy and fun to grow – just cut up a few old potatoes and throw them in (then keep adding soil as their shoots appear), as are cucumbers and zucchini and watermelons are so much fun for kids!

Herbs are a must to make any meal that little more special and what is nicer than popping out to your garden on a summer evening to pick fresh, green, aromatic, rather than stored dried, herbs.

My new house came with already growing asparagus plants, they have kept us supplied very well and so much fun to watch grow straight out of the ground, and I love fennel for something different to cook with. I have about 10 tomato, 8 basil, 8 chilli and 5 coriander plants to keep the household supplied with their favourites and I just let the parsley and mint grow wherever they want which is better than seeing weeds grow there.

I would highly recommend a compost bin – You may not be so in love with worms but my guess is your kids or grandkids will be! It is so rewarding to see those gorgeous worms do miracles turning scraps into the best soil you could wish for.

Happy gardening all! I would love to see your pics of your favourite vegies plants or tips on growing them