There is no better therapy for young and old than a home vegetable garden. Growing food is in our genetic makeup. Whatever your ancestry your forbears grew vegetables. Man has grown his own food for millions of years and 2012 will be no different.
Some of us are old enough to remember what real vegetables tasted like. Younger generations, brought up on today's store bought produce, have never truly experienced some of these flavors.
Why are most commercial vegetables and fruits so different now? One of the banes of commercial growers in the states with the longest growing season like Florida, California and now Mexico and South America, is shipping. For the last forty years seed companies have developed varieties for commercial growers that look good out of the field and have structural properties that allow them to be washed, packed, and shipped thousands of miles and remain attractive and fresh looking in the produce section for a week or two. To keep profits up and costs down they liberally treat plants with chemical insecticides, chemical herbicides, chemical fertilizers and synthetic hormones. Flavor is not a priority.
Fortunately, there are enough home gardeners to keep traditional seed growers like Ball and Burpee in business by developing flavorful varieties for the home garden where shipping is not a factor and space comes at a premium. There are even seed companies that specialize in bringing back to the market heirloom varieties that have been off the market for many years. A trip to any local grocery will usually reveal and organic produce section in addition to the regular produce. Consumers have come to recognize the safety and importance of organically grown vegetables. Organic produce, though, comes with a significantly higher price tag.
With a little effort and small investment, anyone with a sunny space, good seed, a few plants, and Nature’s Guide products can have their own productive organic garden. In the pages that follow we will examine the most popular crops including a few that you might not be familiar with. For each we have provided a simple easy to follow set of instructions for seeding, fertilizing, and care, from planting to harvest. Growing vegetables is not difficult at all. A little labor, some help from Nature’s Guide, and good quality seeds and plants you can enjoy fresh, safe, vegetables in abundance. Our simple step by step guide will help you get started from scratch.