Growing Your Garden

If you missed Aoife Munn’s Live Events, Growing Your Garden, organized by Fingal Libraries for the Summer, this is your chance to get started on your garden, while reaping all the benefits.

Growing your own vegetables and herbs may seem overwhelming to some, but it’s much simpler than it sounds.  All you need is outdoor space or if you plan to start small with a patio garden or even an indoor herb garden on a windowsill, just add seeds, water and a little time and you’re set to starting your own garden.

If you are still sitting on the fence about starting your own vegetable garden, the following benefits would give you food for thought.

1. Improve Your Health

Fresh vegetables are a central part of a healthy diet.  Vegetables are loaded with essential nutrients that promote better health, including antioxidants and vitamins.  Adding fresh vegetables to your meals every day is the best way to boost your health and the health of your family. 

Gardening is a leisurely way to spend time outside in the fresh air while absorbing vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin.  Vitamin D is crucial to maintain healthy bones and teeth, and it can also protect against certain diseases.

2. Effective and Enjoyable Workout

Gardening is a wonderful hobby for anyone who would like to achieve a trim and healthy physique. All that weeding, planting, watering, and harvesting tone the muscles and build strength. If you do not like lifting weights, completing all your gardening activities is like working out but it’s much more organic and enjoyable because you are doing something that nourishes your body.

Involvement in gardening helps to improve cardiac health and immune system response, decrease heart rate and stress, improve fine and gross motor skills, flexibility and body strength.  Getting regular exercise can relieve stress, anxiety and depression, while boosting energy.

“We might think we are nurturing our garden, but of course it’s our garden that is really nurturing us “Jenny Uglow

3. Healthy, Sustainable Food
   
   Organically grown vegetables are healthier, more flavourful compared to store-bought meals. Unfortunately, organic produce is more expensive than your average fruits and vegetables. Wouldn’t it be great to have access to organically produced vegetables at home? Growing your own food allows you to enjoy sustainable fruits and vegetables at your fingertips. You can prepare your meals and have total control over the quality of the ingredients while spending less money on food.

4. Eco-Friendly

Gardening is inherently eco-friendly, more so if you are growing vegetables without using any type of chemical. Growing food organically means sparing the earth of water, soil, and air pollution. Since you are buying less produce from the supermarket, you are not contributing to the use of fossil fuel from transporting fruits and vegetables to your local grocery. If you are growing crops without using pesticides or herbicides, toxic chemicals won’t seep into the soil and waterways. You can enjoy the earth’s bounty without harming the environment.

5. Save Money

Stocking up on fresh produce grown from your garden means having more food to enjoy for weeks, even months, without spending a dime on store-bought vegetables.  If you’d like to reduce your grocery expenses, try growing your own vegetables. You won’t believe how much money you will save from growing your own food!

Most households spend 60% of their food budget on meals and snacks. A small packet of seeds costs about a few cents. Growing vegetables from seeds allow you to plant a huge variety of vegetables, which you can harvest at different seasons.

6. Minimize Waste

Most people are so used to accessing food conveniently, never thinking about the hard work that comes from growing the said food. It’s much harder to waste food when you grew your own food.

You are also likely to preserve or use up your supply before it spoils. Building a vegetable garden is also a great way to teach your children about the importance of utilizing whatever bounty the earth has provided to its fullest and avoiding waste!

7. Leisure

Growing your own fruits, vegetables and herbs is an enjoyable activity.  Gardening is a pastime enjoyed by many. It can be enjoyed all year round and is an inexpensive way to leisurely spend your time.

You can involve the entire family in the development of a garden. Children will love the opportunity to get their hands dirty and parents will cherish the opportunity to impart their knowledge on to the next generation.

Creating a garden gives people a purpose to get outdoors. This pull away from the monotony of a screen encourages interaction and communication among family members.

Gardens can be grown as part of a community initiative, developing community relationships and cohesion.

To read more about gardening or starting your own vegetable garden, check out some books on the catalogue here