Grow Your Own! 5 Ways to Use Your Green Thumb at Home for Affordable Healthy Food – Healthy food does not have to be expensive, especially if we can grow it ourselves! With the rising cost of food worldwide, it’s a perfect time to start a simple home garden, whether planting in the soil or working in pots on your balcony or windowsills.
Planting and harvesting food grown in our garden with my husband and daughters is one of my favorite parts of spring and summer. Every year, it feels like a whole new miracle to place seeds or seedlings into the Earth and have beautiful, nutritious, homegrown food within a few months.
If you’ve always wanted to start a garden at home but haven’t known where to start, I share five of the easiest crops to grow below. Experienced gardeners will find helpful tips, too!
5 Things I Love to Grow at Home
Sprouts:
When it comes to reducing grocery store costs, sprouts, and micro greens are an easy win. Sprouts can cost anywhere from $4-$10 each, depending on what you’re buying, and the amount you get is pretty small. With one $3-5 packet of organic sprout seeds, I can grow at least four to five individual packs of sprouts, saving crazy amounts of cash over time.
Some of my favorite sprouts to grow at home include alfalfa, broccoli, fenugreek, and radish sprouts, but so many more are available! Clover, kale, mung bean, sunflower sprouts, pea shoots, and wheatgrass are all beautiful options to grow at home. All you need is the right equipment.
For most sprouts, a glass sprouting jar with a sieve-like plastic cover works wonderfully and is often affordable. Soak your seeds overnight for 6-8 hours, then pour the water out. Rinse twice daily – every morning and evening – with pure water, then pour out the water and store the sprout jar facing down to allow drainage in a cool, dark place. When baby leaves have appeared after 4-5 days, spread your sprouts out on a large plate and leave in a sunny spot for a few hours before enjoying!
Handy Pantry is one of my favorite brands for sprouts. You may need a sprout growing tray for microgreens, easily found online. Follow the instructions provided and you’ll have fresh wheatgrass and sunflower sprouts in no time!
Herbs:
Fresh herbs are some of the most versatile, health-promoting, and easy-to-grow edible plants. Even people who lack a green thumb often find herbs easy to care for. You can grow your herbs from seed in pots and then transfer them to the soil, keep them in the pots, or purchase mature plants from most grocery stores!
To grow your herbs after purchasing, remove them from their plastic pot and transfer them to a pot about twice the size of the one they came in filled with organic potting soil to make up for the extra space.
PRO TIP:
Everyone thinks they can’t care for basil, but there’s a little-known trick to keep your store-bought basil plant alive. Grocery stores over-sow basil to make the plants look dense, lush, and appetizing, but because of this, the plants get overcrowded and soon wilt or die after you take them home. To prevent that, remove the basil from its plastic pot and split the soil into two sections – break it apart with your hands. Then, replant in two pots about the same size or a little larger with extra soil, place in a sunny spot, and water every 3-4 days!
Tomatoes:
There is nothing better than biting into a homegrown tomato. Store-bought tomatoes taste so bland compared to freshly harvested tomatoes from your garden, and tomatoes are an excellent potted plant to grow if you’re in an apartment.
The biggest trick with tomatoes is to sprout or buy your seedlings early since tomatoes take several months to mature. You want to harvest in July and August instead of watching your beautiful big green tomatoes die on the vine in early October. Make sure your tomato plants get plenty of direct sunlight and keep the soil moist – tomatoes love sun and water!
Potatoes:
These versatile, satisfying, healing vegetables are surprisingly easy to grow, which is why they have been a staple crop for several cultures worldwide. You can buy “seed potatoes” (guaranteed to produce healthy crops) or simply use your potato sprouts from spuds you don’t eat, which are perfectly safe to grow.
All potatoes grow sprouts – that is the sign they are overripe and changing to produce a plant. Place your potatoes in a sunny spot for 5-6 weeks at room temperature before planting to develop the sprouts further, which can help the plants to grow more quickly. Potatoes love the sun and water, so plant in a sunny spot and water regularly once spring is in full swing.
After a few months, your potato plants will flower, wilt, brown, and die. That’s when this root vegetable is ready for harvest! Get your hands dirty, dig into the soil, and prepare for the sweetest, most delicious potatoes you’ve ever had – after scrubbing them clean, of course!
Berries:
Berries are another easy plant to grow at home in the soil or planters. I like to buy baby berry plants from a plant nursery or garden shop – growing from seed can be tricky. Be sure your planter is large enough to accommodate growing berry bushes or vines, choose a relatively sunny spot, water well at least once a week, and look forward to a sweet, colorful, and antioxidant-packed treat!
Pollinator plants!
It’s crucial to plant pollinator-friendly fruits, veggies, herbs, and flowers at this time. We need bees, butterflies, bats, and all pollinators to thrive to continue enjoying Nature’s abundance. There are fantastic resources online that show you which pollen-giving plants are native to your region, so do a quick search to find the best options for your location. Don’t neglect this critical aspect that every garden should have.
Lifelong Skills:
As we establish a direct relationship with growing things, we deepen our relationship with the Earth and the miraculous processes behind all organic life. Connecting with the food we grow and eat will serve us for a lifetime.
If you’re open to a bit of spirituality regarding your food, the globally respected health author Anthony William has written about how growing food creates a bond with the plants we care for. He writes that plants can tune into the intelligence of our bodies and sense what we need, which allows them to build a unique nutrient profile just for you. I love this idea – it enhances my love for growing food even more.
It’s not too late in the year – May is a perfect time to start your garden! Especially if you have a greenhouse or are growing indoors. I promise that after your first harvest of whatever you are growing, you’ll be so glad you did.
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