Best Foods To Grow At Home

We all wish that we could grow all of our own food in our backyards, and almost all of us attempt at least once to fulfil this dream. Yet 99 out of 100 of us will fail. Our failure is often a cumulative result of a lack of time, knowledge and patience.

And although it may be too great a task to grow all of one’s food ourselves – we would need close to 1/6 of an acre (674m2) to feed 1 person eating a vegan diet, or 5 acres to feed 1 person eating an omnivore diet; we can grow an abundance of greens and herbs for a whole family in just a few square meters.

In fact two square meters is all it takes to grow all of your herbs and spices, for all of your meals, all year long. Add another two square meters and you’ll supply your whole family (of four) with enough salad and cooking greens for every meal of the day.

And best of all; herbs, spices and greens, are the most nutritionally dense foods available in our diet. Eating just 1 serving of greens every day will exceed the majority of your recommended daily intakes of minerals and vitamins.

Unfortunately with store bought herbs, spices and greens, most of the nutrients are lost from the drying or processing, and are further declined by long storage or time in transport. Vitamins in particular rapidly reduce after just a few hours of picking a leaf from the plant.

Ironically herbs, spices and greens are the easiest vegetables to grow and rarely suffer from pests or diseases – due to their high mineral and vitamin content. They are also one of the most expensive food items to buy at the store, due to their high perishability and labour intensive harvesting (they have to be picked by hand). They are also ready to begin harvesting after the first 4 weeks, and can continue to be harvested for several years. So start your food growing adventure in just four square metres of highly productive and health promoting greens, herbs and spices. For more information about gardening in Perth contact Mitchs Gardening.