Start with container gardening. It’s easy, rewarding, and doesn’t involve knowing anything except that plants need water and sun.
- Buy a bunch of pots (if you are on a budget, get them at yard sales).
- Buy some bags of potting soil.
- Buy some little baby herbs like basil, rosemary, mint, chives (for Eastern Canada/U.S.)
- Put the soil in the pots (it will make a mess) and then pop one baby herb plant into a hole you make in the soil of each pot.
- Water.
- Put in a sunny spot. Watch that they don’t get too much sun (they will look wilty and unhealthy). Make sure you water them every other day or so.
Once you get the swing of that, you can also try planting seeds that say “patio garden” or “container garden” on them. I’ve had success growing lettuce, carrots, green onion, Swiss chard, and chives from seed in pots.
You need to plant them in the spring after risk of frost at night is over (last weekend in May or so).
This is the point I’m at in my gardening. Next year, I plan to get really serious with a raised bed garden and lots more lettuce, spinach, some zucchini, garlic and Swiss chard.
Benefits of even minimal gardening:
- Pride: You will find yourself pointing out to those at your table that the normal-looking salad was made from your own lettuce and baby Swiss chard (your tone will convey an expectation of praise and acclaim).
- Taste: Lots more herbs!! You can add fresh herbs to dishes with wild abandon now. I used to carefully ration my store-bought fresh basil. Now I chop up handfuls because there’s lots and more coming.
- Satisfaction: Feel connected to the land. It will make you feel wholesome to say in a casual way to your sous-chef (aka child), “Would you go out and pick me a little rosemary for the roasted potatoes?”
I can't comment on container gardening as I have enough challenges battling weeds, mowing my grass and keeping it green. It sure is a lot of work. Now that you mention it, vegetable gardening would probably be more rewarding. Did you know dandelions are edible? I once ate a dandelion salad in a restaurant. Only after being a home owner did I feel stupid for having paid money to eat weeds!
ReplyDeleteIt would be an interesting experiment to see how self sufficent you can be food wise with a home garden. Instead of a 100 mile diet, you would have a 100 feet diet. With a little bit of research, planning, some adjustment in food choices and experimenting with recipes, I bet you could stretch your food production and self sufficiency. You could even raise some chickens in your back yard though your neighbours might not welcome that (Perhaps you can bribe them off with some fresh eggs). Think of the money you'll save! You'll also be in control of what goes into the food. I think we are so used to getting our food from the grocery store that a lot of us forget the potential food resource that we have at our own home.