Gardening for food

If you are a keen gardener, and even if you are not. You can grow your own food at home.  You can find plants that can not only be decorative but can produce food for you and your family.

Fruit trees are a more long-term plan. These are beautiful and covered in blossoms in spring, and will provide fruit for many years

 Do you wish for a more self-sufficient lifestyle? And ensure food security at home?

If you want to grow your own food, can start in your backyard or balcony. Even if you have a very small space you can make use of it using containers or even planning a vertical garden.

Start with a small food-growing project

Your food garden does not need to take up the whole space. You can begin by creating a small food garden. Begin with growing tomatoes or cucumbers which do not need a lot of care.

Most vegetables just need enough sun and regular watering. You can recycle all your household organic waste and make compost.

If you opt for container gardening and growing on frames and trellises you can look at squash, beans, peas, melons and cucumbers which are easy to grow. These require sturdy stakes which are easy to install.

Pretty food gardens

Greening your environment is not only attractive but when you grow your own food, it will provide you with nutrients that have not been exposed to chemical fertilisers.

Plants that can be eaten can also be colourful and attractive and can make an interesting change from flowering annuals. Scarlet runner beans grow fast and have showy red flowers Cherry tomatoes are attractive crops. Edible flowers such as pansies and nasturtiums are attractive additions to salads.  Herbs are easy to grow between your plants. You can grow edible plants in hanging baskets too.

Vegetable Landscaping

Also called edible landscaping you can include edible flowers and all sorts of vegetables all over the garden.

Variety in your food garden

It is important to grow a variety of crops in your yard. Rather opt for fewer plants and more variety. With variety, you will be picking different crops at different times as they grow and mature at different times it would probably be wasteful to concentrate on one crop unless you have a ready market.