Why do you want a home garden? It is a lot of work, but the benefits are unlimited. First of all, it is healthy for you to work outside and exercise. Gardening does wonders to keep the body in shape. Secondly, the food you produce is fresher and healthier than store-bought food. You can also choose a variety of foods to produce.
Healthiness refers to what is in the food and what is not in the food. In your home garden you have a choice of using fertilizers and weed and bug killers. You have no idea what is in the store-bought food. You can grow your own organic foods without the high cost.
Commercial food producers are in business to sell food; so they focus on producing the largest crops at the lowest costs. The easiest way to make large foodstuffs is to breed plants that can hold water and can survive with the cheapest nutrients possible. These large hybrids are greatly lacking in flavor and food value. One of my favorite foods is strawberries, and I have had a small strawberry patch for years. Right now, I have plants in flower pots all over my back deck. The berries I produce cannot be compared to the strawberries in the grocery store. The store-bought berries are huge and beautiful, and have absolutely no taste. The strawberries I grow on my back porch are small and sometimes funny looking, but their flavor is incredible! And I know they do not contain pesticides or any other poison.
It seems that in the United States, eating is just gross intake. “Better” means more. Order a meal in any restaurant and look at the amount of food you get. My husband and I will order one meal and share it, and many times we still have more than we really need to eat. Some diet plans will tell you to order a to-go box at the same time you order your meal. Then, when the meal comes, put half of it in the box to take home.
We Americans have also learned to eat sweet food. Mothers add sugar to vegetables to get their children to eat, and they grow up thinking that all food should be sweet. Manufacturers have learned that it is cheaper and easier at add sugar than to grow food with flavor. When you go to the grocery store, check the labels on the cans and packages. Is it any wonder that we have a national epidemic of obesity?
We should be concerned about the taste quality and the nutritional value of the foods we eat. Commercial producers, however, have other concerns. They want crops that grow uniformly so that harvest can be done by machine. They want crops that will come in at the same time and will be large and heavy to insure the greatest amount of cash per square foot of growing space. They also want food stuffs that travel well; and that usually means “rock hard.”
The home grower, on the other hand, wants the best eating quality foods and a variety. He can grow just what he wants to eat. Home gardening can also save water when growers use existing resources combined with rain tanks and gray water. The shifting of food production to the suburbs is like a return to the 1950's when everybody had his little garden plot. Home grown food not only tastes better, it is more nutritious.
Growing Conditions
When you plan your home garden, plant according to your climate patterns. You should become familiar with your zone map. You can find this on the internet and usually in the newspaper. Pay attention to “frost data.” You don't want your plants to be killed by that last spring frost. It is a good idea to wait until after April 15th to plant your garden.
You need to become familiar with your soil conditions. The depth of the soil layer determines what you can grow. In large commercial farming areas, if the layer is 5 feet or more, the soil is suitable for wheat or rice. If the soil is less than 5 feet, the area can be used for pasture land. For your vegetable garden, you need a soil layer that is 4 to 5 feet deep. Dig up the ground and add compost. Plant your fruit trees and bushes in areas of deepest soil. You can do with less soil for you vegetables if you take care of it. While you are plowing, however, don't disturb the hard pan. This is a layer of clay that is like hard concrete, and your plants will not appreciate having to live in this stuff.
After you have planted your garden, apply a good layer of mulch. Mulch helps to reduce water evaporation from the soil, so keeping the right amount of moisture is easier to manage. Mulch also helps to hold temperature in the soil, making it possible to plant an earlier crop. Mulch helps in weed control. You no longer have to worry about your garden being overrun by weeds that compete with your vegetables for water and nutrients. Depending on the color of the mulch, it can materially increase the size of your crop.
