Great Reasons for Growing Your Own

While there has been a recent rise in the popularity of those vegetable gardens that are springing up in backyards all over, many have yet to climb aboard that bandwagon that’s hauling loads of vine-ripened fruits and vegetables. Here’s a list of good reasons why it’s time to consider growing some of your own fresh produce in a home garden:

• At close to $4 a quart, strawberries are just as expensive as a gallon of gasoline. With so many agricultural inputs linked directly to oil don’t expect to see food prices do anything but increase as long as fuel prices continue to climb.
• Need a great excuse to go outside for a little fresh air, sunshine, and exercise? Well gardening will provide you with all of that plus a little stretching and meditation to boot. Who needs a gym when you can get plenty of exercise tending to a beautiful raised bed vegetable garden?
• Locally grown produce is in, and you can’t get any closer than taking a short stroll to your backyard to retrieve arm loads of delicious produce ready to be turned into the latest gourmet creation for your family to devour at the dinner table.
• Now contrary to popular opinion, a vegetable garden can make for a very attractive addition to your home. Brilliant blueberry bushes, colorful rainbow chards, exotic palm kales, climbing fruit vines, and even edible flowers all combine to create a landscape that will make any ornamental landscaper envious.
• Worried over the latest salmonella outbreak; well when was the last time there was a spinach scare or tomato recall related to anyone’s home-grown produce? Grow your own and you can relax knowing exactly what if anything has been sprayed onto that juicy red tomato. You’ll also know how it was handled at every stage of its production both in and out of the garden.
• Ever taste a Purple Peruvian potato, Tolli’s Sweet Italian pepper, Black Krim tomato, or a Golden Midget watermelon? Probably not if you purchase all your produce at a supermarket, but grow a home garden and you open the door to all manner of exotic and heirloom varieties of incredible fruits and vegetables.

These are just a few reasons to begin making plans today for growing some of your family’s supply of fruits, vegetables, and herbs right out in your own back yard or patio. It’s easier than you thought and more rewarding than you could imagine!

Kenneth Point
Vegetable Gardening Tips website
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