Simple and Easy Ways to Growing What You Eat

Eating healthy also means knowing where your food is coming from.

As we all know that food can be very costly, especially fresh fruits and vegetables. Buying organic food is certainly not cheap and sometimes not even necessary. As a whole food plant-based eater I want to be able to eat as much rich food as possible. This is one of the reasons I visit our local farmers market weekly. However, I can save both time and money by growing some food of my own.

It’s Easier Than You Think

I must say I always thought I did not have a green thumb, but oh I was wrong! So trust me, you can do it also! This is one of the healthiest and freshest way to eat clean. Please note, this is not time consuming as you may think it is, I am not gardening weekly. You must make sure you have good soil for starter, water, sunlight, and that’s pretty much it.

Moreover, if you can plant your own food you don’t even have to think of that additional costs. I highly recommend growing your own garden. Herbs are very easy to grow even on your kitchen counter. If you live in an apartment you can grow in pots, which saves some money and definitely space.

What I grow and How

I always love growing my food but space has been an issue so now I use an elevated garden bed and pots. Grow what you like and use often. These are what I am growing now (red) peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, and celery. In addition, I have cilantro, basil, lemon grass, parsley, and thyme. So these items listed above are items that I must no longer add to my grocery list.

There are three ways I grow my vegetables.

From seeds. You can purchase seeds. However, when I have nice flavorful organic mini bell peppers, I save the seeds and let them dry for couple days. Simple steps. I just take the seeds, add it to the soil, cover the soil with a little dirt and water about every two days. When we have rainy weather, I do not water at all. Like I previously mentioned, you can also buy seeds, I typically get mine either from Lowes or Amazon.
From small plants. This is my way way out. I would buy a small plant, either from a local farmers market or Lowes and then transplant it in my garden bed or the pot. I typically just dig a hole in the soil and take the plant with most of its soil depending on the size and place it in hole. After that, I water and that’s it.
From the vegetable. I do this method mostly with celery and green onions. I cut about 3 cm from the end of the celery stalk and place it in the dirt, deep enough where I get maybe only about 1 cm visible. The green onions, I put in water for couple days once I see roots forming I plant them, sometimes I just stick the green onion in the soil directly without putting it in water first.

This is how I usually start out. Here are my peppers.

So the best way to know, how fresh your fruits, vegetables and herbs are, is to grow them yourself.

Green, Red, Yellow, Orange….Peppers

Remember : All peppers start out green, so if you like red, orange or yellow peppers, let them stay a bit longer on the tree (ripen) until it changes color, before picking. I have had instances when some peppers do not turn at all but that is based on the variety of pepper. I have never gotten a yellow or orange pepper but very successful on getting reds, which are my favorites. Once picked they will not change color so be mindful. On the contrary, I do pick my tomatoes a bit earlier and let them stay on the counter for about three days to ripen fully.

Now, that I have given you some tips on how to start your own garden. These easy tips can not only save you money but you will be eating the most freshest, fruits, vegetables and herbs. These are some simple and easy ways on growing what you eat.