13 Reasons to Grow Your Own Food

In an age where we buy can find practically anything in a grocery store, it might seem like fruit and vegetable gardening is a pointless and outdated hobby. But growing your own food provides so many benefits: 

1. ​Having a garden improves food security for your family and neighborhood. 
2. Sharing what you grow with others builds community.  
3. Gardening allows you to literally eat the fruits of your accomplishments, giving you a sense of pride. 
4. If you stick to affordable gardening practices, you can save a lot of money as opposed to buying produce from the store.  
5. Homegrown produce often has more flavor and may have more nutrients than hydroponic grocery store produce. 
6. Working outside is good exercise and exposes you to fresh air! 
7. Multiple scientific studies have indicated that being around green, growing things is energizing and provides stress relief.  
8. Your plants’ progress gives you something positive to look forward to every day.  
9. In urban areas, gardens allow people to reconnect with nature.  
10. Getting produce from your backyard or porch is the most local source of food and reduces the large carbon footprint of transporting food great distances.  
11. Backyard gardening promotes biodiversity and provides critical food for pollinators amidst monoculture grass lawns. 
12. Observing the life cycle helps kids (and adults) learn about biology!  
13. Growing food is an important hard skill to have, especially in times of crisis or the apocalypse (kidding...mostly.) ​

So the question is not why should you garden, but why shouldn’t you! 

While the prospect of starting a garden may sound overwhelming, it is actually easier than you think. You don't need a ton of room, money, or to grow a lot. There's nothing wrong with starting small. In fact, I started this blog to help first-time gardeners learn just the basics. I'll walk you through the process of growing your own food from start to finish, using straightforward language and sharing simple, affordable gardening techniques. And if you come up with questions along the way, I will get them answered!

Convinced? The first step is to think about where you want to put your plants.

​Let's get growing!