Gardening For Health

We installed our new garden.

It was our thought that we should grow as much food for ourselves as we possibly could. I've tried my hand at gardening in the past with mixed results. Results were mixed mainly because there were times I was really into the garden and other times I was non-committal or downright negligent. I didn't have a sense then just how nutritious and satisfying growing food for my kitchen table could be.

These days, with things like genetic modification and rampant use of chemicals and pesticides, it is comforting knowing first-hand the real quality of your lettuce or carrots. Growing your own food also cuts into a great deal of your grocery bill, which of course never hurts.

We decided to loosely follow the tenets of square foot gardening. My partner, handy as he is, was able to effortlessly construct a 4 x 8 raised bed. But this was only our first bed. After planting things like chili peppers, herbs, tomatoes, lettuce and the like, we got the bug for more. He constructed another bed, 4 x 4, and then pulled some untreated wooden boxes from the sheds for use as planters.  We also re-purposed a couple of unused trash cans for potatoes.

It still wasn't enough. He constructed another 4 x 16 bed and pulled out more planters and items for re-purposing from his sheds (things like bookshelves and cabinets). We utilized all of these, planting, in addition to our first bed, the following items:

broccoli
strawberries
Brussels sprouts
leeks
sunflowers
blueberries
red onions
bib lettuce
salad greens
spinach
more tomatoes
and then even more tomatoes
salvia
artichokes
carrots
radishes
all manner of squash
watermelon
a GIANT pumpkin
sweet bell peppers (red, yellow, orange)
...and so much more.

The end result looks like this:

Just look at all the re-purposed items:

Seriously, we used left over wood, makeshift trellises, trashcans, discarded shelves, forgotten planters and a lot more. What we created was a wonderful little urban garden that has the potential -- should we care for it -- to produce a lot of wonderful food. 

Me, I'm looking forward to all the greens. Kohlrabi, kale, arugula, chard ... there's a lot. A good amount of cruciferous vegetables, too, because they are so incredibly nutritious and wonderful for you. We have fruit trees on the land, as well: things like peaches, plums and apples, and I have lots of yummy plans for those. 

Anybody can garden, even apartment dwellers. It really does give you an immense measure of satisfaction when you plant a garden, tend it, watch it grow and harvest. 

I'll keep you posted on the progress of this year's summer gardens.