Often gardening can seem overwhelming, but the truth is it can be very simple. Anyone can have a garden; it does not matter if you live on 100 acres or on the 5th floor of an apartment building. Gardening is something that is fun for the whole family and best of all -you get to eat your own produce!
Here are a few simple tips to help you start your very own garden.
You can use kitchen scraps from some vegetables to grow new plants.
The easiest group to do this with is leafy veggies like celery, romaine lettuce, bok choy and green onions. Just cut off the base of the plant (the part you normally wouldn’t eat) about an inch tall and place half of it in water. By changing the water regularly and placing it somewhere that has access to sunlight you’ll have new root sprouts in no time. That’s not all you can grow in your house! Produce like beans and sweet potatoes are also good plants to try for first time gardeners. Beans are super easy to grow. Just get a small container and fill it with soil, then plant your beans and cover with a thin layer of soil. Water it from time to time when the plant begins to look sad, and you should start to see little bean sprouts! If you have sweet potatoes that have started sprouting don’t throw them out! You can cut off the sprouts right at the base of the potato and place them in some water. Then replace the water every couple of days. Once you see a good amount of roots growing from the sprout (after about 2 weeks) you can place it in some soil and watch your plant grow into a beautiful sweet potatoes vine.
Make your own compost
This is a great use of your fruit and vegetable scraps. Place scraps in a plastic or wooden crate with holes in the bottom for water drainage. Then add any kind of fruit or vegetable scraps mixed with some type of ‘brown’ (woodchips, dried leaves, dried grass, shredded newspaper, cardboard). The main rule is to not add anything with meat, dairy, or oil. It helps to alternate layers by doing one layer of produce and then one layer of dried leaves or newspaper strips. Repeat this process over and over, and occasionally stir the bin. In a couple months the materials will break down and you will have an amazing fertilizer for your plants!
Other recycled fertilizers
Old coffee grounds are an excellent source of nitrogen for the compost pile. Banana peels can add potassium, and crushed and dried eggshells can supply too! After I make my morning coffee, I add the grounds to an old jar or bucket to be added to the compost pile or directly to plants when it fills up. Keep eggshells and crush them up and sprinkle them on plants for a good source of calcium. Put the old peels outside and let them dry up or bake them and then crumble them up before adding them into your soil.
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