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Container Vegetable Gardening 101
In an age when there is a grocery store or fast food restaurant on almost every corner it may seem silly to think about growing your own food. Why go through all the trouble of growing something that you could just buy? Not to mention the fact that in a society where an increasing number of people rent homes or live in apartments, condos and townhomes, who even has the space for a garden? Well, that is what I am here to talk to you all about today! Gardening is an activity with many benefits and you need very little space to enjoy them!
Why Garden?
Gardening will save you money: Three tomato plants will cost you anywhere from $6 to $15 dollars depending on where and when you buy the plants, and if you buy seeds they will only cost you a few cents. An average yield from three healthy tomato plants is in the ballpark of about 89 tomatoes. That is an estimated value of about $90! By growing three plants you just saved yourself enough money to go on a nice family outing. Sure, there are the startup expenses of pots and dirt but many of your costs are one time only, even some of your potting soil can be reused from year to year.
Gardening Helps the Environment: Growing your own food reduces your carbon footprint. To continue with our tomato example, your every day store-bought tomato is grown in a green house, picked about two weeks before it is actually ripe, stored in cold storage for up to a month before they travel and reach the store and are put in ethylene gas chambers that artificially induce color and ripeness. When you compare the amount of energy it takes to accomplish all of that with the amount of energy it takes to grow a tomato in a pot, it is clear that growing your own vegetables makes an impact on your carbon footprint. Not to mention that there is no packaging to dispose of with a homegrown tomato, no plastic and Styrofoam packaging and no little sticker. By growing your own veggies, not only are you reducing the amount of energy spent on your food, you are reducing your waste production.
Gardening is Therapeutic and Educational:
Having a reason to get outside and enjoy the sunshine is sure to be a mood lifter. You get to increase your vitamin D production, have a little time away from the constant barrage of emails, phone calls, and to-do lists and just enjoy your little patch of nature. One of the things I love the most is the sense of satisfaction that comes with watching your plants develop. I could be having a truly terrible day, but if I come home and see that a new seedling has started poking through the soil, or a new little tomato has formed from a flower, I am excited. I just can’t help it. Finally, gardening can be educational, especially if you have little ones at home. Teaching our children how their food grows and where it comes from is one of the most valuable lessons I feel a child can learn. It gives them an appreciation of the food they have and it can even inspire them to eat more healthy foods. I have heard so many stories of children who would never eat a vegetable growing to love them once they were able to play a role in planting and growing their own food.
“But I Can’t Garden, I Don’t Have Space!”:
Unless you live and work in a windowless room, you probably do have space to grow something. If you rent a house or a townhouse with a yard but you can’t plant a garden in the ground, obviously you can just use the yard space you have and use pots and other containers to grow your plants. If you have a patio or balcony you would be very surprised by how much food you can produce in that small space, everything from vertical gardens, to pots to window boxes can be used to maximize your space! If neither of those options fit with your situation, do you have a sunny window that you can set plants in front of? That will work just fine, especially for plants like greens and herbs. Do you have a sunny spot in your office at work? Does your office or apartment building have a roof that is accessible? Rooftop gardens are becoming increasingly popular in major cities. Get creative, but know that just because you don’t have a yard doesn’t mean you can’t have a garden!
Plants That Do Well in Containers:
Just like the options for gardening spaces, the number of plants that can be grown in containers is almost limitless. However, here is a little list of some of the plants that I have had personal success growing in pots.
How to Get Started:
You don’t need much to get started with container gardening. I would recommend buying some basic potting soil, I have never needed to get the “nice” potting soil with lots of fertilizers and additives. Basic soil will do. I would also recommend getting a basic bag of compost or manure to add into your soil, this will give you really nice healthy plants. Find yourself a cheap pair of gardening gloves and either a trowel or a shovel and then the only things left to get are your containers.
I have seen so many great ideas for gardening containers. Obviously, pots are many people’s go to choice. However, I have had great luck with using 5-gallon paint buckets that I picked up for a few dollars at the local home-improvement store. For smaller plants such as herbs, recycled milk jugs, cups, and even recycled tins work wonderfully. For vertical gardening, wooden pallets can work wonders. Resilient root plants like onions and potatoes can even be grown in burlap bags! Anything that can hold water and soil can be used as a container, so get creative!
So, no matter how much or how little space you have, or how much or how little you know about gardening, I encourage you to give it a try this summer. Whether you plant one tomato plant or you fill up your balcony and produce food for the whole summer, just give it a try and see what happens! One of my favorite quotes comes from an unknown author and says this, “To plant a garden is to believe in the future.” Grab some seeds and a pot and go see what your future holds!
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Samantha is our newest Sweet Talk contributor. She writes about clean living, urban homesteading and saving money. You can read more at her blog, Sweet Potatoes and Social Change.
