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Have you ever started growing plants or merely just taking good care of your mother’s house flower plants? Are you jealous looking at your neighbor’s garden full of colorful flowers and fresh vegetables to harvest? Did it come into your mind growing something green and be happy after seeing a beautiful sprout from the ground? Without any reservations in your head, are u knack in thriving green stuff and keeping them healthy all throughout?
Well, by the time I got married and as I became keen and mindful with what I put on my toddler’s plate was the time I started the fish-expedition about organic eating and keeping the thought of ‘’clean eating’’, not only for me but for all the members of the household. Heretofore, I decided to dig the facts and must-know about gardening, the questions I’ve mentioned above were the queries that came into my mind as a rookie in the gardening field. With knowing little certainties in this field, second thoughts really did hit me with bitter thoughts. Nevertheless, the good thing about marriage life – I married the ever supported husband in the world; he encouraged me to push through with my healthy interests and plans.
As far as I can tell, I pursue my intuition of growing little paradise and growing foods at the nearest visibility. For the reason that I am a stay-at-home mom with a playful toddler; home gardening is the best counterclaim at full length for me, as I take good toddle with my toddler at her playroom along with a short sneak peek every now and then on taking good care of the weeds and pests in my garden.
So, before anything else let us sprout some basic things about home gardening.
What is Home Gardening?
Home gardening is a state-of-the-art course in cultivating your very own production of plants and vegetables at your own small garden around the household. This kind of a personal project can be venture on many strategies, like growing in container pots or a garden in the lawn or plots. This type of gardening can elucidate in a different approach, like growing: vegetables, spices and herbs, and hanging plants or blooming flowers. Home gardens naturally maintained by household members with intelligence about growing any specific kind of plants.
Moreover, with the joyful reward of seeing the rewarding bountiful results, home gardening contributes a healthy environment as well as the flourishing advantages in one’s health status. Gardens in our homes dash off a bit of everything from striving physically, nevertheless, amidst from that, the effort a garden can provide to the family in a less costly monthly budget and an effortless insured health.
Advantages of Home Gardening
1. An Open Door Fruits and Vegetable Section
Do we all love fresh vegetables to add in our morning soup? What is more than a fresh harvest with high nutrients compared to an exported vegetables traveled for how many hours. Well, a home garden can exactly tell you what is for dinner. The garden itself speaks for a new recipe to create without looking at the ‘what is inside the fridge’. A backyard garden with plants to harvest gives you the best choices you could ever have and healthy picks too. Withal, a budget-friendly way to save your estimated expenses for the grocery; you can just imagine one plant in your backyard can grow more than one onion or a tomato maybe. So if you hog on an eco-rich garden at that instant you will surely intake and enjoy a healthy local food or vegetable/fruit vault.
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2. Steer Clear from Harmful Chemicals
Thriving your very own fruits and vegetables at your doorstep can ease your mind from worrying about what chemicals are present in your food. As a mother, we wanted every bite our family does is healthy and in that manner, we make sure they are eating clean; and eating clean means eating the organic way. However, organic products in the market nowadays are highly-priced and hard to find. Along with it, fruits and vegetables from the market are generally harvested before they are ready with chemicals to initiate ripening; contrary to home gardening, growing vegetables on your own inspires you to pick the vegetable or fruit when it is ready.
3. Positive Influence
Home gardening can be one happy recreational activity for the family as well as it can promote a sense of responsibility to each member especially to the young ones. It teaches everyone to learn and appreciate the beauty and importance of nature in our lives. It somehow gives hope in a way we can see and experience how every little thing grows naturally. Gardening can be a healthy therapy that enhances mental status through stress-free and relaxing activity.
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4. Give Back to Nature What Nature Gives You
Home gardening encourages everyone not to use pesticides in order not to contaminate or produce bad impact to the environment. And with recycling, we can make a compost that is less costly and less harmful to the surrounding by reducing the garbage around. Planting in our homes can be a good start to a bigger agricultural project in the future that can help minimize erosion and the tall type trees can provide a shady place and less heat for everyone.
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5. Extra Income
This type of business can be one of most nature-friendly and finest type. With nature itself, anyone can earn much more income, just like where I bought my first flowering plants and ornaments. In their field of business, they also sell naturally fertilized soils that are ready to use, they also give pieces of advice to the beginners who are interested in growing plants and at the same time they are contributing fresh air and clean environment in the community.
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Disadvantages of Home Gardening
As much as I don’t want to give some negative feedbacks about home gardening, because I want to promote it to everyone the significance about gardening, nevertheless, I need to tackle some minor flaws that came in my way when I just started this hobby.
1. Expenses
Yes, we just mentioned that home gardening can help you save money but when it comes to being a beginner in this area you need to start from the very beginning. Your possible expenses may start from buying the materials needed like shovel, hoe, and soils with natural fertilizer, garden scissors, and pots if you are planning to use containers instead of plots. Nevertheless, expenses will eventually lower its quantity as the months' pass by. One more thing also, one of the most important things to consider that may increase your per diem is your water supply.
2. Long Weekend Break
When growing plants in your backyard you must take a responsibility and be accountable for possible tasks every now and then, that is why, when you are planning for a long weekend getaway with your family, you need to ask someone to watch your garden; in order to avoid some gardening concerns such as dying plants due to not being watered for too long.
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3. Location Capacity
As for me, I decided a rooftop home gardening because our rooftop was empty when we moved in and somehow the heat was so exhausting. So space for my home garden was never an issue at the beginning, but when more plants are coming in and as I do some research there are more plants I wanted to grow in my garden and now that is the time ‘space concerns’ came in. With less space I do have now, it gives me the limit to crack down some of my ‘planting bucket list’.
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4. Physical Issues
Home gardening is not just a walk in the park kinda thing, home gardening involves digging, bending and carrying soils and pots in much unmanageable weight. With regards to lifting such top-heavy soils up to my rooftop garden, in some way, one of my greatest grievances in gardening. That is why my husband keeps on telling me to make my garden small so that I may not need to overly work myself out.
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Soil Preparation
Just like us humans, plants need nutritious food to eat too. In this way, we can make sure we are waiting for a hundred percent success for the harvesting time. If we offer our plants with healthy soils we are rendering the right care and we are growing a strong and productive gardening project. As stated in 1000 Gardening Questions & Answers, the right soil mixture consists of a compost, leaf as well as grasses and manure.
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WHAT IS IMPORTANT IN SOIL?
Good soil is essential for a good harvest. Soil must have all the nutrients necessary for plant growth, and a structure that keeps plants firm and upright. The soil structure must hold enough air and water for plant roots, but must allow excess water to drain away.
Fertilizer
Fertilizers can wash away quickly so do not apply them too early before planting. Fertilizers cost money and are very concentrated so you only need to apply about one handful for every 4 m2. Never put fertilizer in a heap too close to a plant or it may burn the roots or stem of the plant. It is better to spread the fertilizer out and lightly mix it into the soil surface.
Compost
Compost is easy to make and does not cost anything if you have the time, some space in your garden and access to materials such as animal and kitchen waste, leaves and grasses. Make the compost in layers and add kitchen refuse every day. Turn or mix the compost heap every month to help it rot and break down. It takes three to four months to become dark and ready to use.
Information Credit: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations via http://www.fao.org
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So, I think that's all for now and I will be sharing the second part of this blog Organic Home Gardening: The Basic Guide Part 1 the soonest I can! Hope you enjoyed reading and learned the basics of Home Gardening.
Coming up will be about Essential Tools every Gardener Needs and Tips on Buying the Right Plants!
Watch out for it because it will be available shortly!
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