Tips to start growing your own food

I’m getting so used to treating our garden like a supermarket, sometimes I forget how many failures we’ve had on our journey learning to grow our own food. There’s been so many hard lessons; we’ve had issues with soil quality, wind, pests, too much water, not enough water.  

We still have heaps to learn and in the last couple of years my respect for gardeners has grown immensely, especially those that rely on the produce they grow to make their living. I saw that there has already been frosts in the South Island this week, a reminder of just how real climate change is.  

One of the ways we’re trying to live more sustainably is to reduce the journey our food takes to get reach our plates. If you’ve been thinking about starting to grow some of your food, for whatever reason, here’s a few humble tips from someone who has struggled to develop a green thumb.  

Plant things that grow quickly 

You need some pay off early. Herbs are great because you can start to use them almost immediately. It’s surprising how much flavour they can add to a meal, even in small quantities while your plants get established. You don’t need a lot of space, grow them as close as possible to where you cook. 

Grow what you like to eat 

We’ve experimented with growing lots of different vegetables in our raised garden beds. I do most of the cooking which sometimes I really enjoy, and sometimes I feel is a huge chore. I find that vegetables that I know how to cook and that we like get used as they’re ready – peas, courgettes, lettuce, asparagus. Whereas vegetables I’m less keen on or less confident cooking tend to get left too long, go to seed or become a feast for the slugs. I’m looking at you half a dozen cabbages. It’s all part of learning I guess, and it’s not too bad because those veggies feed the worms or go into the compost. This year we’re all about planting more of what we like to eat and increasing our yield.  

Grow things that will go bad in your fridge before you get around to using them 

When we lived in city apartments and worked long hours in corporate jobs we mostly ate out or got takeaways. I got sick of buying veggies only to throw them out a week later because we didn’t use them. We have a favourite recipe for a French-style creamy chicken casserole that uses greens like kale and cavalo nero, carrots, onions, rosemary and thyme. One of the things I love about growing veggies now is being able to make this whenever I feel like it in winter because the fresh components are available from the garden and the other ingredients are stored in the freezer or the pantry.  

Automate your watering  

Ideally, you’ll spend some time with your plant babies every day. That’s the best way to harvest what’s ready, keep on top of weeds and observe if your plants need anything – staking, fertiliser, cutting away dead or dying foliage. But what about when you go away or get busy? Having an automated watering system means that your plants still get the water they need even when you aren’t there to give it to them.  

Alright, I’m off to the ‘supermarket’ to see what’s for dinner! If that’s got you pumped to start growing some food, start with something easy.  

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Experimenting with solar powered devices