Growing Your Own Food Is About More Than Potatoes And Carrots

Growing your own food is a brilliant way to save a bit of money on your food shopping and get some delicious vegetables that are much tastier than anything you can buy in the supermarket. It’s also a fun way to spend a bit of time with the family and teach your kids about where their food comes from. A big mistake that lots of people make when they start growing their own food is that they always end up sticking to the same few root vegetables. These are still great but there’s so much more scope for growing more interesting food that you can add to your diet. Here are some of the best ingredients that you can grow and how to do it.

Greenhouse

When you plant in the beds in your garden, you’re limited by the climate so you’ll always end up with root vegetables for the most part. When you get the right equipment, you take away those limitations. A good greenhouse recreates a hotter climate so you can grow things that would normally die over here. 6×10 greenhouses are a good size and will fit in everything that you need. Once you’ve got everything set up, you’re ready to start growing.

Chilis

Chilis are a great addition to the garden because the flavor is so much better when they’re grown at home. They’re incredibly good for the immune system so adding them to your diet is a must. They’ll need to be grown in the greenhouse because they won’t survive the cold weather. They should take about a week to start growing once you’ve seeded them. Once they reach around five inches tall, they might start to droop so put in a support stick to help them stay upright. If you plant them in early spring, you should see some chilis by the end of the summer. After that, they’ll flower again every year and you’ll have a good supply of fresh chilis.

Herbs

You should still keep growing all of that root veg that you started with, but you can turn into something so much nicer if you get a good herb garden going. Before I grew herbs, I used to use the dried ones from the shop. I was constantly tasting and adding another heaped spoonful to try and get some flavor out of it but it was always quite a dull taste. With fresh herbs that flavor comes through strong, but is never overpowering. You can buy packets of seeds for next to nothing. Just plant them in some small pots and then once they get a bit larger, transfer them into something bigger. Keep them inside or in the greenhouse as they won’t do well with rain or cold weather when they’re smaller. Once they’re getting bushy, you can trim them once or twice a week and use the trimmings. This will help them to grow thicker and you’ll get a bigger yield when you cut them. A bunch of fresh herbs will take any dish you cook to the next level.