Grow Your Own Food

If you are tired of food crop prices always rising on the market, then it’s time to set up your own garden to grow your own food. When you want to start growing your crops you will need to consider certain things like what variety of crop, what time to start growing and how to prevent pests and diseases?

Climatic and Soil Requirements

You will need to consider other things like climate, soil, rainfall, and available space.

1. Climate:

Some locales only have a brief growing season, such as Northern Europe and Africa. This means growing quick producing plant varieties that can be harvested and stored for the winter. Other areas have year-long warm weather, where fresh vegetables and grain can be harvested on demand.

2. Soil:

Depending on the type you have available, you may expect very high yields from a large area, or meagre yields from small areas. The best plan to follow is to plant a food crop which flourishes in your conditions as a staple, and use surplus land to grow “luxury” foods that require more fertilization and effort.

3. Rainfall:

No plants thrive with minimal rainfall, so most food crops require substantial amounts of water from irrigation or rainfall. Consider the normal rainfall rate for your area, and the availability of irrigation when choosing crops. If you live in a dry area, consider collecting rainwater.

4. Space:

If plenty of space is available, you may be able to grow plenty of food using conventional methods, but where space is limited, you may have to look at other techniques, including hydroponics, container gardening, sharecropping, and vertical garden.

You will also need to know more about the season as to which crop does well during this season and which one do not do well in the other. This will help you know how much you need to invest in your farm and how much you can also make to sell to other neighbours when they want to buy. You will be able to know how to prepare each crop for certain harsh weather conditions for growth.

What foods can you grow on your own?

You will need to consider the diet of your family first before you go ahead to grow the crops since it is the family that will eat more of it anytime. The nutritional content too is also another thing to know here and what quantity it produces when eaten.

1. Vegetables:

This includes legumes, leaf vegetables, root vegetables, corn (a grain, looked at more closely later), and vining vegetables like squash, cucumbers, melons, and pumpkins. These provide many essential nutrients and vitamins, including:

• Proteins: Legumes are a good source of proteins.
• Carbohydrates: Potatoes and beets are an excellent source of complex carbohydrates, as well as minerals.
• Vitamins and minerals: Leaf vegetables, like cabbage and lettuce, as well as vining vegetables like cucumbers and squash, are a good source of many essential vitamins and minerals.

2. Fruits:

Most people understand that fruits are a great source of vitamin C, but they also contribute many other vitamins and minerals to your diet, as well as offering a broader variety of taste to enjoy. Fruits also can often be preserved by drying or canning, so refrigeration is not required to store your surplus.

3. Grains:

Growing grains is not what most people envision when they think of growing their own food, but grains are a staple in most diets. They are filled with carbohydrates and fibre, and can be stored easily for long periods of time. In many early civilizations, and in some countries today, grain is the primary foodstuff for the population. This category of food crops includes:

• Corn: Often eaten as a vegetable with meals, corn is also a versatile grain that can be stored. Proper varieties, grown to maturity can be harvested and stored as whole cobs, shelled (whole kernels removed from the cob), or ground into meal for use in making breads or mush dishes like grits. For those living in latitudes with long enough days, corn may be the easiest grain to grow for the home subsistence farmer. Freezing corn is the easiest way to preserve it for winter use.
• Wheat: Most people are familiar with wheat, from which we get most of our flour for baking everything from breads to cakes and pastries. Wheat stores well after harvest, but harvesting itself is more laborious than it is for corn, since the whole plant is usually cut down, sheaved (bound in piles), gathered and threshed (beaten to free the seeds), and ground into fine powder (flour).
• Oats: Another grain, oats for human consumption are processed more than wheat or corn, and the labour involved in harvest is equal to wheat. Still, it may be considered an option in some areas where it is easily grown.
• Rice: For wet areas, areas subject to flooding, or which can be flooded, rice is the obvious choice. Rice is commonly grown in shallowly submerged soil, and is harvested much as wheat is.
• Other Grains: include barley and rye, which are similar to wheat and oats.

What is the best way to store food long term?

The type of crops you are going to grow will determine the type of storage unit you will need to enable you store your food stuff after harvest. Your storage unit should be a place where pests cannot destroy your produce especially rodents if they are grains you are going store. If it is leafy vegetables you will have to make sure insects don’t get into them because insects destroy more than they help with farm activities.

There are other storage methods listed below you can also use:

1. Drying (or dehydration): This is a useful method for storing fruits and some vegetables. It can be done without high-tech gadgets in most fairly dry, warm climates.

2. Canning: This requires containers (which are reusable with the exception of lids, which may deteriorate over time) but does require proper preparation, cooking equipment, and skill. Pickling is considered in this article as a “canning” process, although it does not have to be so.

3. Freezing: This, again, requires some cooking preparation, as well as a freezer and proper containers.

4. Bedding: Not previously mentioned, this is a method for storing root crops such as potatoes, rutabagas, beets, and other root crops. It is accomplished by layering the product in a dry, cool, location in a straw bed.

5. In Ground Storage: Many root crops and cole crops (like turnip and cabbage) can be overwintered in the garden. In most cases it is important to prevent the ground from freezing. Milder winter climates may only need a frost blanket. But colder climates may need mulch of up to a foot and a plastic covering. This type of storage is an effective way to save space and keep your produce fresh.

It will be best to know how to grow your own crops to enable you get used to house food than eating food brought from outside to the house. Learn how to grow your own food and feed plenty people at home when there is a party this will make you save a lot of money too.

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