Grow Your Own Veggies

With the groceries prices skyrocketing, people are struggling make ends meet. It is no wonder that growing vegetables in your garden is becoming more and more popular. Growing your own veggies is much cheaper and much easier than you might think.

September is planting season in South Africa. All you need is a few buckets and well prepared soil. Here are 4 tips to get you started:

Enough Space

Now, this doesn’t mean you need a farm to plant rows and rows of crops. You just need to plan how much space you need. This usually depends on the type of vegetables you would like to grow. A few square meters is usually enough to grow the basics at home. However, if you’re thinking big and want enough to feed your family completely, working together with other members of your community to plant more vegetables together is a great idea.

Healthy Soil

Good, fertile soil is rich in nutrients and dark in colour. What to look for:

• Soil that is not dry or sandy
• Soil that is not too tight, like clay

Adding a good amount of potting soil to either of these, will help improve the quality of your soil. You could even start your very own compost heap.

Location

Sunshine is important, but how much depends on the type of veggies you will be growing. Too much or too little, and your veggies won’t grow. Pay attention to how much sun your area gets, before you decide what to plant.

Full sun (5-6 hours of sun daily)

• Tomatoes
• Green beans
• Corn
• Carrots
• Sweet Potato

Partial shade (half day sun only)

• Broccoli
• Lettuce
• Spinach
• Peas

Shade (less than 3 hours of sun)

• Potatoes
• Onions
• Herbs like Parsley, Mint and Chives

Crop rotation

Different plants soak up different nutrients from your soil. So to avoid using all its nutrients, rotate/change your crops around by planting a different vegetable in each section after every harvest.

Growing your own vegetables will not only save you some money in the long run, but it will also ensure that you get the freshest, healthiest vegetables year round.