The Satisfaction Of Growing Your Own Vegetables

[passingcat]

It must be so satisfying to grow your own vegetables! I'm going to start doing this next year, because I will be fascinated to watch a seed turn into a complete vegetable! Knowing they haven't be sprayed with anything horrible, will also be very reassuring to me.

 

[zigs]

It's very satisfying, especially that first meal of the season when all thats on your plate comes from the garden or has been caught/foraged by yourself

 

[Kansas Terri]

Raising your own vegetables also makes you feel like you are part of the ecosystem. Of course we all are, just as much as the rabbits and the plants are, but with modern life it is very easy to forget that!

Many years ago, in another part of the country, I worked in the basement of a hospital. I was working for patients that I never saw, and for cash that I rarely saw because the check went to the bank and I used checks to pay the bills. It all seemed so unreal!!!!!! Every time I felt like this I went into the garden and I tended the vegetables. I could see a direct cause and effect there! If I planted a tomato then a tomato grew and we ate the tomato. It was intensely therapeutic! By the time I went into the house I felt well grounded and in charge of my own life!

Those years have come and gone and my kids are now young adults. That means that they are now old enough to get into SERIOUS trouble! And, I am fairly sure they would rather not tell me about it if they are in trouble and so I feel very uncertain at times! The garden still makes me feel in control of my life: it still makes me feel like things are real.

The food is pretty good also! I know that the weather will eventually kill the Bright Lights swiss chard, for instance, and so I harvested some of it. I chopped it up and I mixed it into last night's cole slaw for a bright and festive dish! .

 

[gata montes]

Not much can compare to the satisfaction and reward you get from growing your own vegetables - you can eat as many as want, because you have an abundant supply, the taste is way more delicious than anything you could buy elsewhere and of course, there is always that heavenly aroma of real vegetables filling the kitchen as you prepare you meals, which you then tuck into happily, knowing that not only did you grow them yourself but they are as healthy as any vegetable could get

 

[headfullofbees]

I know I go on about this, but wait until you grow your own peas.
Easy enough for a novice to grow, but better than any shop grown pea you've ever had, I promise.

As soon as a pod is picked off the plant, the sugar begins to turn to starch.
Even if the shop-bought ones were a day old, they would have no chance of comparing.

There are so many other things you can grow too.
Fruit and vegetables that the supermarkets can't touch because of short shelf-life/impossibility to harvest on an economic scale.
You'll be eating vegetables that you were unaware of in a few years.

Nutrients? Home-grown averages nearly twice of shop bought.

 

[cmckinney01]

It must be so satisfying to grow your own vegetables! I'm going to start doing this next year, because I will be fascinated to watch a seed turn into a complete vegetable! Knowing they haven't be sprayed with anything horrible, will also be very reassuring to me.

Growing your own vegetables is indeed very satisfying. It's so exciting to watch the first green shoots poking their heads up through the dirt.
My favorite part is spotting the first tiny green tomato of the season. Then, I watch in delight as the tomato slowly grows bigger and turns colors from gold to orange and then red. Nothing tastes better than the first tomato of the season.

 

[headfullofbees]

Knowing they haven't be sprayed with anything horrible, will also be very reassuring to me.

Passing cats have been known to spray horrible stuff on my broccoli.

Seriously, I go to great lengths to get some of my first early potatoes grown at the same time as my first early peas.
What a treat with spring lamb...

 

[firelily99]

Its a hugely satisfying experience and I am able to use, eat, and recycle most of what I grow. I've been gardening/farming and I still get the same thrill upon seeing the first plants come up in the spring as I did when I was a kid.

 

[Bootsy]

We've been growing our own for over 50 years and still get the enjoyment of growing and eating our produce.

 

[marlingardener]

As all of you have said, growing and eating your own vegetables is a pleasure not to be surpassed!
However, I'd like to mention the pleasure of sharing. We plant so much more than we could ever consume (and we consume a lot!) so I take the excess to the local food pantry where folks who don't have the space or the physical ability to garden can get fresh, clean, good vegetables. Just walking in with a couple of baskets of squash, cucumbers, sweet peppers, whatever is in season, and seeing the instant smiles on the elderly faces is such a pleasure. If you have extras, please share with neighbors, the elderly, shut-ins, or take the excess to the local food pantry (but check first to see if they can accept fresh produce from local gardens--some localities prohibit this for health reasons).
As Bootsy said, the enjoyment of growing doesn't diminish with time. Nor does the enjoyment of sharing.

 

[zigs]

I paid for some of my driving lessons in veg

 

[Bootsy]

If you have extras, please share with neighbors, the elderly, shut-ins, or take the excess to the local food pantry (but check first to see if they can accept fresh produce from local gardens--some localities prohibit this for health reasons).

It's excellent that you put your surplus to such good use.

In the UK food pantries aren't allowed to accept fresh produce.

We sell our surplus and donate all the proceeds to a local charity (mentally handicapped children) where all the money goes directly to help people. All admin is done by volunteers. We also grow specifically to produce a surplus for that purpose. Our most popular and best selling vegetable are runner beans (that's why we buy so many seeds ) and I've been selling 50lb per week during the harvest season (mid-July until mid-September).

To make the beans more productive I've designed and made a climbing frame that allows the bean plants to grow to 15ft and make them easy to pick. It's similar to a grape vine arbour where the beans continue to grow up the framework and overhead - like a roof of beans.

 

[marlingardener]

Bootsy, if our local pantry ever stops accepting fresh produce, I'll go with your "sell it and donate the proceeds" method. Good for you!
I like your description of the bean frame--there is a demonstration garden in Austin that does something similar with cantaloupe. The melons hang from above, and when they get big enough, they are put into old panty hose and the hose is tied to the frame. Strange looking, but effective!

 

[zigs]

I've used Bootsy's frame for growing beans, works fantasticly



Have the added advantage that you can protect an early crop very easily.

Makes for much easier picking too

 

[claudine]

In my opinion there is nothing more satisfying than growing your own vegetables and fruits. It's not only fun, it can also help you save a lot of money and become really healthy. Currently, I only grow different kinds of sprouts and herbs, but it's better than nothing