Making the Most of Growing Your Own

Growing Your Own

Those of you who read about my big Garden Project will know that as a family we have invested a LOT of time and money into our garden. When we first moved in, our garden was a complete bomb site, and was not only a health & safety risk but just not practical for our growing family. After a long hard graft, we are now super proud of our finished space, and can’t wait to get back out there with the children this Spring and Summer.

As part of my #2017MonthlyChallenge I am hoping to eat healthier and lose some weight. March is my #5aDayMarch month, where I need to try and ensure I consume AT LEAST 5 portions a day. As part of the challenge I intend to get Erin involved and growing some of our own vegetables. Erin is an incredibly fussy eater, and I am hoping that by giving her a greater understanding of food and where it comes from will help her “buy in” to the process and be willing to at least try a few more new foods.

There are some other obvious benefits to growing our own:

• Cost – eating healthily can be expensive. As much as I would love to say we all eat our full five a day, the cost of my weekly food shop rises significantly when I buy a large amount of fruit and veg. By growing our own, a small initial investment can lead to huge savings in the long term.
• Fresh Fresh Fresh – you simply cannot beat the taste of freshly picked fruit and vegetables straight from patch to plate.
• Educational – by growing our own food, I can teach Erin the science behind food and where it comes from. I will teach her about the importance of sunlight and water to help things grow, and help her visually recognise and name a wider range of foods.
• Fresh Air – Getting my children outside in the garden planting seeds and growing vegetables is a great way of ensuring that they both get a good dose of fresh air and vitamin D!
• Free Activities – I often struggle to find activities to keep Erin entertained now she is getting a bit older. I know she will love digging and watering the seeds, and gathering up the finished produce once its grown. In preparation for this I have bought her a child’s gardening set, including a hoe, spade and gloves.

Rattan Direct recently shared with me this helpful infographic, which outlines the timeline of when certain vegetables grow well throughout the year, and the best time to carry out different elements of garden maintenance. I found this incredibly useful, as I’ll be honest that I didn’t have a clue on how to get started and what to grow when! I plan to print this out and pop it on the kitchen noticeboard, as a bit of a reminder of my ‘garden to do list’!

As they recommend, I will also be looking to install our own water butt – making the most of the rainfall we seem to be getting SOO much of lately. By reusing the natural water from the butt we can save even more money on the costs of watering and teach Erin even more about protecting our environment.

I am really excited to get started on this and cannot wait till Summer when we can grow our own tomatoes, green beans and broccoli!

Do you grow your own? What other tips would you give to someone like me starting out?

This is a collaborative post with Rattan Direct