Lots of people like the idea of being self-sustainable. Once upon a time we would have done so much more for ourselves, from growing vegetables to making clothes. But now we buy most of the things we need from stores, and don’t give much thought to where they come from or how they’re made. Being able to do some things for yourself can make you feel great. It’s a wonderful feeling when you’ve made a dress from scratch or cooked a soup with the vegetables you grew in your garden. Growing your food is one of the easiest things you can do. It takes some planning and you need to put a bit of time into it, but the results are worth it. If it’s something you’d like to have a go at, think about these things before you get started.
Planning
Before you start growing anything, you need to decide what you want to grow. It would be great if you could grow whatever you like, but in reality you have to consider the conditions needed to grow different things. You’ll need to do some research on what you can grow in the space you have and the climate you live in. The soil in your garden, or that you use in your plant pots is important too. You can add compost to your soil to make the chances of your fruit and vegetables growing better. Your climate and rainfall will affect the seasons you can grow in and what you can grow.
Choose Suitable Things to Grow
Once you’ve researched the conditions you have available to you, you can select some appropriate vegetables and fruit bushes and trees. You can find some good information on the blog for fruit plant seller http://www.pomonafruits.co.uk/. Helpful blogs like this will help you grow different things in your environment. There are some things that are easier for beginners to grow, such as lettuce, chard and tomatoes.
Get to Know Your Crops
Before you start planting, get to know the growing cycle of the fruits and vegetables you’ve chosen. You’ll need to know the different stages of each plant and when you need to tend to what you’re growing. Plus, if you’re growing more than one thing you’ll need to know how you can fit them together.
Harvesting and Storage
You’ll need to research when each of your crops is ready for you to harvest. For example, you need to know the signs of ripeness in your fruits and vegetables. When they’re ripe, they’re usually ready for you to harvest them, and the plants will continue to produce fruits. But if you’re growing grains, they often finish growing and dry out while still on the plant before you harvest them.
You also need to think about how you’re going to store your food once it’s harvested. It’s unlikely you’re going to eat it all at once, so you need to check how to keep it fresh for longer. You will need to preserve things in different ways, so make sure you know how to store everything and have the space.
