In last weeks post, I kicked off the new "garden guide" series by talking a little bit about what I was planning to do with it, and how hard, fun, and complex gardens are to manage. In this post, as a continuation of the introduction, I wanted to talk about some of the benefits, both for us and the environment, of having a garden. There are quite a few benefits we have to talk about, so let's get into it right away, starting by talking a little bit about pesticides, how they may affect the produce we eat, and how having a garden can help you escape their effects.
Pesticides
It's common knowledge that pesticides are one of the most widely used methods to protect crops from harmful insects. They help to keep our food clean and safe. Sometimes, however, residue of these pesticides can actually be quite dangerous, and ingesting them frequently can lead to some serious diseases. Unfortunately, the solutions put in place to protect our food can actually end up hurting us, the food we eat, and the environment around us.
However, I'm not going to spend this post talking about whether or not pesticides should be used, I've already done that (you can check out my opinions on various pesticide uses here and here). I am however, going to briefly mention that by growing your own produce in a garden, you negate the possible problems that pesticide usage on store-bought products provides. When buying produce from the store, you can never be sure of the amount of residue they may contain. By growing from your own garden (as long as you don't use them yourself!) you can be sure that there will be no harmful aftereffects from pesticides.
It helps the bees!
Again, I have already run this topic into the ground in previous posts (which you can see here, here, and here) but for those of you who haven't read them (which you really should by the way) I wanted to mention that gardens actually really help bees. As many of us already know, the bee population has been decreasing over recent years, and it has many scientists alarmed (which I believe is for a good reason). We need bees to survive, and if they don't, then neither do we.
Doom and gloom aside, starting a garden helps to preserve the bee population in your area. Bees feed off of pollen and nectar, both of which come from the flowers of vegetable, fruit, and other types of plants. By creating a garden, you are ensuring that with proper care more flowers, and thus more pollen, will be created in your area. Giving bees more food helps to ensure their population has enough to survive, making life easier for them and allowing their numbers to increase back to their usual level.
It saves you money!
The weekly trip to the grocery store can be quite expensive for some families. Finding the right produce that is both tasty and healthy can also be difficult, and in some cases even more expensive. Many stores tend to sell organically grown fruits and vegetables at a higher price than their artificial counterparts, which makes them less easily accessible for many families.
However, by starting your own garden, the produce garnered from that is completely free! Well, nearly free. Aside from the costs to start the garden (seed packets, water, pots, etc.), there are no added costs to making your own garden. Most of the materials you need to start can actually be re-used for multiple years, as long as you are strategic with how you use them. According to recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average homeowner spends about 500$ on fruits and vegetables alone each year. Now I don't know about you, but saving 450$ or so by working on a garden for 10 minutes a day doesn't sound too bad.
It gets you outside
Many of us don't get outside enough, myself included. I love the outdoors, but it seems like I never get a chance to experience it enough, maybe others can relate. Anyway, having a garden really makes you take the time to get outside. As I mentioned before, the minimal amount of time you can spend on a garden is 10 minutes. However, if you want, you could spend a whole hour working on it, as there is always more work to do. Getting outside is important, and gardening is just another way we can do that.
It tastes good!
I have often heard many complaints about store bought produce, most commonly having to do with its taste. Because of the long storage times and sub-par conditions this produce has to endure, their taste can be severely affected. No one like a bad tasting tomato, so why take the risk by buying from a store?
Growing your own fruits and vegetables from home results in a much cleaner, much tastier form of produce. Because they don't have to be frozen or stored for long periods of time, they retain their taste much better. I can testify to this myself, as my family and I compared freshly grown garden cherry tomatoes and store bought ones. The taste of the homegrown cherry tomatoes wins every time. While the effects of this may differ for some fruits and vegetables, 99% of the time a homegrown product will beat the store bought one.
It challenges you to learn and think creatively
Growing a garden isn't always easy, and many of the problems they might have can't always be answered by a simple google search. While you wouldn't expect something like this from gardening, the scenarios growing a garden provides helps challenge our minds to create new and interesting solutions. Not only this, but it actually helps to teach us a lot. A few of the things I have started to learn after only a few months is soil composure, plant reproduction, bee behavior, and much, much more. Growing a garden helps to really engage and help us to become better problem solvers.
Conclusion
So, making your own garden has many benefits. Obviously, there are more than the few that I have listed here, so if you are interested in the subject matter, I highly suggest you look into it further. Also, if you are planning on starting your own garden (who wouldn't want to?) then you may find that there are even more benefits for you personally. Anyway, that's it for this week's post. If you would like to check out last week's post to learn a little bit more about this series, feel free to check out the link below. Thanks for reading.
All credit for images used in this post goes to:
https://mothernature.com/2017/05/how-to-plan-a-pretty-and-productive-vegetable-garden/
http://www.listchallenges.com/vegetable-garden
http://quitmarijuana.org/blog/pesticides-in-weed/
https://www.ufseeds.com/learning/garden-planting-guide/
https://www.pinterest.com/explore/bumble-bees/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-eskind/you-bee-you-understanding-your-purpose-in-life-through-the-world-of-bees_b_6182982.html
https://andrewpegoda.com/2015/03/27/9-problems-with-money-in-2015/
https://steemit.com/steemit/@codywills/how-to-make-money-online
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/100-best-golf-courses-outside-us
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/retail/locally-bred-tasti-lee-tomato-hits-publixs-produce-aisle/1186149
http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-grape-and-cherry-tomatoes-word-of-mouth-206683
https://dribbble.com/shots/1139780-Problem-Solver
https://www.slideshare.net/HubSpot/25-sales-interview-questions-to-recruit-superstar-reps/64-Thanks_for_reading
Other Garden Guides:
Garden Guide #1- Starting your Own Garden: https://www.workingtosave.com/single-post/2017/09/24/The-Garden-Guide-1---Starting-Your-Own-Garden
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