The Real Benefit to Growing your own Vegetables

Things are starting to look up for my garden that was started back in May. My lineup consisted of spinach, romaine lettuce, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, broccoli and pickles (baby cucumbers). The fruits of my labor are starting to come to life as I have several pickles almost ready to be picked (canned garlic dills!). In addition, I have picked some sporadic sugar snap peas and harvested a few salads out of my spinach and lettuce row. Tomatoes are still green but will be ready in a few weeks as I have several fruits on every vine.  That all being said, convenience and cost savings are most likely a moot point when I consider the time and effort of preparing the soil, weeding, and (water usage). It was over sixty days ago I started this little veggie plot and have allocated some important time and effort to bringing these vines and stalks to life. Yes, I could probably buy all these items at the local supermarket for dirt cheap, especially the pickles right now. The real value of gardening is having your own pesticide, herbicide free food source right there at your discretion. It has been a long time since I have had to purchase romaine lettuce and spinach from the store as I have had such produce readily available behind my shed for easy picking.  Home gardening seems to bring out the inner farmer in all of us and definitely encourages us to try new foods, herbs, and even manages to tempt my children to taste new veggies knowing they had a stake in producing the food.  What is also fun is when you get those surprise seedlings that sprout up from gardens in the past. A few weeks ago I recently spied some second generation chives as well as a tall dill weed growing in the corner of my plot which was a nice surprise and will sure to be used for cooking this summer.

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