Guest post by Leah Freund
A friend of mine recently inspired me to try something new…. start a garden. She is growing a couple herbs that she uses regularly for cooking, but I decided to take it a step further and try herbs and vegetables. While on a recent trip to Menards to grab supplies for the Mother’s Day gift I was going to make, I spotted seed kits and bought the vegetable and herb packs that contained the seeds pictured below.
I have no gardening experience, and I wasn’t even sure which vegetables work in pots and which ones don’t. Due to space constraints and the lack of a real “garden”, they were all put in pots. I’ve planted the seeds, labeled the pots, the rain has taken care of any watering the past few days, and now we wait!
So why grow your own food?
Convenience. Sometimes, food choices are made based on convenience. You don’t have time to run to the store so you make the quickest meal you can find, which might not be the healthiest option. What’s more convenient than your own back yard?! It doesn’t get easier than stepping right outside to grab that one ingredient you’re missing for your meal and saving a trip to the store.
Fresh tastes better. Many times with produce in stores, you’re not sure when it was picked and how far it had to travel to get to you. With your own garden, you get food at its freshest. Take green beans for example. You can taste a difference from canned to frozen, or frozen to garden-fresh. And fresh always wins (in my opinion).
Control. The beauty of growing your own plants is that you know exactly where they came from. If you’re the person controlling the day-to-day maintenance, you know there are no harmful chemicals or pesticides. You can even buy organic seeds.
Triumph! Imagine making a meal with ingredients that came from a seed YOU planted, watered, and took care of. What a sense of accomplishment! Personally, I’d just like to see some of the seeds turn into actual plants and I would consider it a win!
Stay tuned to see how (or if) my plants turn out!