The idea of becoming self-sufficient is one that appeals to many and one of the best places to start is by growing your own fruit, vegetables and herbs around the home. This is something that is taking off in a big way as more and more people realize the ease with which they can plant things in their garden and even indoors. Whether it be tomatoes in a greenhouse, lettuce in a plant bed or herbs growing on the kitchen worktops, having these key ingredients to a healthy lifestyle around the home have plenty of benefits to them. Let’s take a look then at what benefits you will get from growing your own food.

Save Money

The cost of seeds and cuttings is negligible compared with how much money you will spend on your fruit and veg in the supermarket and this gives you a great cost saving. Aside from the seeds, you only really have to spend your time in order to get plenty of beautiful fruit and veggies on your plate and you will see it make a huge difference to the cost of your weekly shop. Supermarkets need to pay for production as well as transport for their produce, you on the other hand can do it all at home.

Knowledge

When you eat your own produce you can be safe in the knowledge that you know every part of how the particular fruit or veg in question got on to your plate, something which cannot be said for supermarket-bought produce. There are of course rules in place to ensure that there is nothing untoward going on when the supermarkets transport your produce, but it is better to have a complete understanding of how your veg or fruit was grown, and where.

Rewarding

There is a real sense of reward when you grow something yourself and you will get a sense of this each time that you head out into the garden to pick some lettuce or reach for some fresh basil from the window sill. Fruit and veg are not always guaranteed to grow well and you may have to have a few attempts first to ensure that you get a good yield on your plants, once you do manage to achieve this however, you will instantly feel a sense of great achievement.

Help the Environment

Food miles are the amount of miles which food travels from source to supermarket and they are creating a great deal of damage to the environment. You can help to reduce this by a fraction by growing your own fruit and veg as it will lower demand for produce, thus reducing supply. Even if you do not consider yourself an eco-warrior, growing your own produce can ensure that you are doing your bit to help the planet.

Have you grown fruit and vegetables in the garden before? What worked and what didn’t? Let us know what you think in the comments section below this post. You can also find some recipes for garden vegetables in this ebook.