Organic Gardening

Rising fuel prices may be the reason why the number of people planning a backyard garden has increased in recent years. The number of pesticides used in commercial farming is another reason why many people are choosing organic gardening. Healthy eating habits including eating locally grown foods can make the difference in how much your children like the vegetables your garden produces.

There are many reasons to choose to grow your own garden and to do so organically. Here are some of them:

• Vegetables you grow out of your own garden are fresher than commercially grown vegetables. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone with a garden leaving the food sitting around for more than a day or two. Commercial produce, however, has been picked before it is ripe, sprayed with chemicals to continue the ripening process during shipping, and then traveled up to 1,500 miles to reach your table.
• Organically and locally grown vegetables are healthier for you and your family. Fresh produce quickly loses nutrients. If you can eat it soon after it’s picked, it retains more of the nutrients.
• You don’t have to worry about any of the vegetables being genetically modified. Genetically modified seeds aren’t currently available to individuals and you probably don’t want to use them in your garden anyhow.
• Should you have more vegetables than your family can eat, you have three options. You can share the vegetables with friends, family, or neighbors. You can sell it at a local farmer’s market or a stand in your yard if that is permitted where you live. Or you can put it up (freezing or canning) for use later in the year.
• Any vegetable, or fruit for that matter, that you grow on your own property is going to taste better than vegetables from other areas of the country. You may actually hear your children say homegrown vegetables ‘taste like summer.’

Another reason to plant your own vegetable garden this summer is that you can use it as a way to teach your children about nature and how to care for the environment. You can also spend quality time with your child if you can get them to help you.

The biggest benefit of growing your own garden, however, is knowing where your vegetables came from. You’ll know what, if any, pesticides were used on them. You’ll also know that you and your children can go out the back door and pick them fresh.

Children who may be picky eaters when it comes to vegetables may be more willing to give them a try if they’re fresh from your garden. There’s no guarantee that your green bean-hating child will suddenly turn into a green bean lover, but there’s more of a chance that’ll happen if they have a hand in growing, caring for, and harvesting the beans themselves.

Organic gardening in your own back yard often leads to healthy eating habits. Let your children go outside, pick some cherry tomatoes and let them pop them into their mouth. You know what went into growing them and that they’re perfectly safe.