If you love fresh vegetables but don’t want to always drive to the grocery store to get them, consider home gardening. It is a rapidly expanding movement with the rising cost of food and people becoming more conscious of what they are eating. Besides, you obviously won’t use chemical fertilizers! Nothing is better than growing your very own organic and healthy veggies! Here is a list of veggies you can easily grow at home:
POTATOES
Plant potatoes during late February and March in potato bags that are only part filled with compost. When the green shoots begin to appear above the soil, simply cover them with more compost. Repeat this until the bag is full, and then you only need remember to water them! 10 to 20 weeks later, tip the bag out and rummage around in the soil to collect up your own home grown potatoes.
BEANS (GREEN BEANS)
Green beans provide a bounty of nutrients: vitamins A, C and K, manganese, potassium, foliate and iron, as well as fibre. Plant your bean seeds in well-drained soil where they’ll receive full sun. Sow seeds every few weeks to enjoy a continual harvest through the summer.
CARROTS
Find a plot of soil (or a deep pot) that is free from rocks and deep enough to handle this root vegetable. Rocky soil can result in crooked carrots that, while perfectly edible are not the most aesthetically pleasing. Carrots are ready for harvest when their tops breach the soil line.
CUCUMBERS
Cucumber plants will sprawl, so provide your plants with ample space to stretch their roots. Try smaller varieties to make your own homemade pickles! Be sure to avoid planting cucumbers until all danger of frost (during snow-fall) has passed.
LETTUCE
Lettuce grows quickly, is really easy to harvest (just snip the tops off the plants or pick leaves as needed), and takes up very little space. They can even grow in containers, perhaps accompanied by flowers or tucked under taller plants. Also try directly seeding them even in partly shady areas.
BELL PEPPERS
Bell peppers in different colours and sizes can be grown in pots throughout the year. It is best to grow small varieties in 2 gallon pots. You can keep them outside during the day to benefit from maximum sun exposure, but when the night temperature is too low, they can be brought inside. You can help distribute the pollen by shaking the plant a few times a day when it is in flower.
BEETS
Beets can be grown easily in any kind of containers. Sow the seeds 3-4 inches apart, but thin them out later, if necessary. That should be done by snipping them off, not by pulling out the unwanted seedlings. Beet greens are edible, but they have high oxalic acid content.
PEAS
Peas are a trouble free crop that enjoy cooler weather. Sow them directly into the ground from March to June and look forward to the incredible sweet flavour of fresh picked peas from June to August. All they require is support for their stems – simply erect some chicken wire or netting between supports at each end of the row.