Spending time outdoors is one of the best things we can do for our health. I firmly believe that nature is a great healer and how much better do we feel after getting some fresh air each day?
Something else which is incredibly important for our health is maintaining a healthy diet and a great way of contributing to this is by growing your own kitchen garden.
Kitchen gardens are becoming increasingly popular and are a great way for people to discover and enjoy gardening. There's something truly special about growing something from seed, watching it grow and flourish overtime and then getting to enjoy the produce in some delicious dishes too.
Age UK, the leading charity for older people, have shared their kitchen garden basics: tips on sowing, harvesting and planting so that everyone can reap the benefits of growing their own kitchen garden.
What are the benefits of growing your own kitchen garden?
1. Health benefits
Using freshly grown produce in your cooking contributes massively to your dietary health. Growing and producing fresh fruit or vegetables will encourage you to consume these healthy foods more as part of your every day diet, allowing you to reap the healthy benefits of growing your own kitchen garden.
2. You know where your food is coming from
As you'll have grown the produce yourself, you know where your ingredients are coming from and you can be sure of their quality.
3. It can be cheaper
Seeds and plants can be bought quite cheaply and once you have sowed and settled them into your kitchen garden it costs very little to maintain them. However, once grown and producing vegetables, herbs and fruit, they can save you money on your grocery shopping.
4. You get to enjoy a great hobby
Gardening is a very rewarding hobby to enjoy. There's nothing like watching something you've planted or sowed grow and seeing all your hard work paying off. I've found that gardening is great for mental health and it gets you outside more too.
5. Gaining a knowledge of horticulture
When you begin gardening, you get to learn about each and every bit of produce that you grow. It's amazing all the knowledge you can pick up along the way, such as knowing the best type of soils for what you're wanting to grow, tips and tricks for keeping pests at bay and how to grow produce naturally without any chemicals.
As you begin to learn more and gain more confidence in your garden from seeing your efforts pay off, you'll probably want to try your hand at growing other fruits and vegetables too.
What fruits and vegetables are good to grow in kitchen gardens?
Fruits such as blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and tomatoes are all great for kitchen gardens and are relatively easy to grow.
Vegetables such as cabbage, sweet potato, spinach, cucumbers, bell peppers, Brussels sprouts, carrots and asparagus are all great kitchen garden basics and can be used in your everyday cooking.
If you want to try out some seasonal produce with your kitchen garden, pumpkins and apples could also be fun produce to try and grow.
Herbs such as basil, mint, thyme, rosemary, etc. are very easy to grow and are a great addition to kitchen gardens too. These could even be grown on a windowsill if you're short of space.
Adding to your knowledge of horticulture and the variety of produce you can grow, why not consider growing mushrooms in your kitchen garden? This can be an intriguing exercise and an interesting addition to your repertoire.
Growing a kitchen garden has been high on our list for awhile now as gardening is something which we want to teach our children. Since buying our home in November 2020, we've worked to try and get our gardens back into shape and in the coming months we'll be trying our hand at growing berries and some vegetables in a little patch of our garden.
Would you grow your own kitchen garden?
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