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By: Niki Jabbour, author of 2021 Shortlisted book in the Culinary Narratives Category, Growing Under Cover: Techniques for a More Productive, Weather-Resistant, Pest-Free Vegetable Garden.
Vegetable gardening is big as homeowners, apartment dwellers, and anyone with a bit of sun has been discovering the joy of growing some of their own food. You’ll find a lot of fancy tools and equipment at your local garden centre, but all you really need are seeds, sun, soil, and water. If you’ve been thinking of starting a little vegetable garden, here are 7 reasons to grab that trowel and get planting:
- It’s not as hard as you think.
Many vegetables and herbs are quick and easy to grow and these crops are the perfect place to begin for novice food gardeners. Start with a couple of containers or a raised bed and plant vegetables like bush beans, peas, leaf lettuce, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes. Culinary herbs like basil, thyme, Greek oregano, and parsley are also low maintenance plants that add big flavour to your cooking.
2. It’s good for your body and mind.
Prepping, planting, and tending a garden is a great way to enjoy more time in the fresh air and offers both physical and mental health benefits. Sure, I may occasionally shout at a slug, but overall the garden brings me a lot of joy.
3. It’s fun!
Yes, growing your own vegetables can be a lot of fun – and it’s a great way to introduce kids to how food is grown. I love experimenting with fun and colourful varieties of vegetables like rainbow carrots, black tomatoes, purple pole beans, and yellow cucumbers. It’s also fun to try unusual crops (which is the topic of my book Veggie Garden Remix that won the Taste Canada Silver Award for Culinary Narratives in 2019) like cucamelons, ground cherries, and edible gourds.
4. Reduce your grocery bill.
The cost of groceries, and especially fresh produce, has been climbing. And while it’s not realistic to think you can grow all the vegetables you need to feed your family, you can save money growing high value crops like cherry tomatoes, high bush blueberries, culinary herbs, and salad greens.
5. Grow organic.
Organic produce is expensive to buy and often hard to find. Growing organic vegetables like lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, baby kale, and spinach isn’t difficult to do in a home garden – I only garden organically and maintain over 30 beds! The key to success is to start with the right site (full sun) and good soil (well-draining and fertile). Pay attention to your plants and keep an eye out for pests. I use simple garden covers to reduce pest damage (the topic of my 2021 Taste Canada shortlisted book, Growing Under Cover) as well as extend the harvest season.
6. Harvest year round – even in Canada!
I take a lot of pride in my year-round vegetable garden in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I harvest a wide variety of vegetables year-round from our raised beds, cold frames, and polytunnel. I don’t have any heated structures but grow the right crop at the right time. I’ve got all the details in my new book, Growing Under Cover, but in autumn and winter we enjoy plenty of cold hardy crops like spinach, lettuce, arugula, scallions, beets, carrots, and much more.
7. It’s better for the environment.
So much of the food in the supermarket comes from far away, even the crops that could easily be produced in my home province. Growing a vegetable garden to supply crops like salad greens, cherry tomatoes, root vegetables, and culinary herbs means less of your food comes to your table from long-distance transportation.
Niki Jabbour is the author of four books including Veggie Garden Remix and Growing Under Cover. She gardens in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Find her at SavvyGardening.com and on social media @NikiJabbour.
