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Everyone knows that eating enough fruits and vegetables is crucial for your health. However, there is an enormous difference between consuming store-bought vegetables and growing your own garden. The latter is more satisfying, pleasurable, and may even help you live to be 100 years old. On top of that, it’s also a great way to do good for our planet, too.
But those are not the only reasons to grow your own garden; there are plenty more. For this article, we’ve chosen seven, and hopefully, we’ll be able to convince you that growing your own plants is the best way to go!
7 Reasons Why You Should Grow Your Own Garden
Over the past few decades, pesticides, additives, herbicides, and synthetic fertilizers have all extensively been used in farming all over the world. This resulted in a shift towards mechanization and homogenization. Unfortunately, all of this has a clear impact on humanity’s health, and new diseases are rapidly spreading among humans and animals.
That’s the main reason why many people nowadays decide to grow their own fruits and vegetable garden. However, it’s definitely not the only one. Gardening comes with plenty of benefits for both you and the environment. Further in this article, we’ll try to convince you to go green outdoors and hopefully inspire you to take further steps towards going green indoors, too!
If You Grow Your Own Garden, You’ll Always Know What You Eat
The biggest reason to grow your own garden is that you will always know what you eat. You know exactly what has been used on your fruits and vegetables, and you can successfully avoid potentially dangerous chemicals.
Pesticides can be found on most store-bought products even though they can be detrimental to our bodies. For example, carrots, peppers, cucumbers, potatoes, lettuces, apples, kale, and many other fruits or vegetables we consume on a daily basis. In fact, the Soil Association claims that shop potatoes may have been sprayed with up to 30 pesticides before reaching our stores.
You can also make sure that the fertilizer you use is natural and cruelty-free. An even better idea is to make your own fertilizers. There are plenty of DIY ideas to find online that will help you not only make your plants grow healthier but also reduce food waste and help the environment at the same time.
You’ll Always Be Able To Enjoy Fresh Products
One of the best things about growing your own garden is enjoying your product as soon as it is ripe. Not only do mass-produced fruits and vegetables have fewer nutrients, but they are also more likely to lose a portion of those nutrients before reaching your plate. It can take several weeks from harvest to the shelf, during which time vegetables and fruits will lose a lot of moisture. Consequently, this will increase the risk of nutritional value deterioration.
Home-Grown Vegetables And Fruits Are Richer In Nutrients
According to different research, home-grown vegetables have more nutrients than those grown chemically on a large scale. One of the reasons behind this is that many fruits and vegetables are bred to be aesthetically beautiful. Take a good look around your grocery store. You’ll notice that most tomatoes or apples, for example, look nearly identical and perfect.
Tomatoes, in particular, are harvested before they are fully ripe and then artificially ripened, extending their shelf life but not their nutritional value. While eating fresh food on a regular basis isn’t a miracle cure or a guarantee of a long and healthy life, it can undoubtedly benefit you in the long run.
You’ll Enrich Your Living Space
On top of it being helpful and beneficial for you, growing your own garden can also enrich your living space. There are many ways to set it up and make your outdoor space look more appealing. Simply research garden design ideas, and we’re sure you’ll find plenty to choose from to make your garden even more beautiful.
Even if you don’t have enough outdoor space, this doesn’t mean you should give up growing your own garden. For example, you can grow smaller vegetables on your balcony. Or, you can even have an indoor herb garden. Not only will you always have fresh herbs whenever you need them, but indoor plants will make sure that the air in your home is always toxin-free and healthy. It’s a win-win!
Gardening Is a Great Exercise
Growing your own vegetables motivates you to spend more time in the garden, increasing the amount of physical activity you get. Anyone can help, so the entire family, from young to old, may get outside and help raise the vegetables for dinner. Tilling the soil, planting, weeding, watering, and harvesting will get you outside, breathing fresh air, getting some vitamin D boost, and burning a few calories.
Gardening Is Great For Your Mental Health
Besides being beneficial for your physical health, gardening is also a terrific method to unwind and clear your thoughts of tension. It keeps your mind active and engaged. After you’ve tried a few basic crops, you could want to learn more about other plants, or you might become a full-fledged botany specialist. Or, you may find that you enjoy cooking with your homegrown vegetables so much that you decide to seek a new job as a chef or find a new pastime.
Growing your own garden gives you a sense of pride, too. It is a wonderful and rewarding experience to successfully plant a seed, see it grow, then harvest and consume it. Knowing you put in the effort to grow the food on your plate gives you a new respect for it and a new sense of connection to it.
Organic Farming Is Environmentally-Friendly
One of the most important reasons to grow your own garden is that by doing this, you will not only do good for yourself and your family, but you’ll also be helping the environment. First, you won’t hurt the soil or the air with the chemical components because you won’t use pesticides or other similarly harmful things on your veggies.
Also, having in mind that farms today consume more energy than any other industry, growing your own garden will help you reduce your overall energy consumption. If you go a step further and make your own fertilizers, you’ll cut down the food waste. Plus, if you use reusable organic cotton bags and freshie food saver bags to carry and store your products, you’ll not only keep safe from ingesting microplastics but you’ll also triple the lifespan of your fruits and vegetables!
Final Thoughts
There are plenty more reasons to grow your own garden, but we hope that the seven we listed in this article were enough to inspire you to give it a try. Trust us, you’ll start experiencing benefits way before the first products are ripe and at your dinner table.
If you follow our blog you’ll find more great advice on eco-friendly ways of living. Stay tuned for more articles about going green and how you can reduce your impact on the environment!
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