Growing your own vegetables is one of the most satisfying things you can do.
It's fulfilling on so many levels that sometimes I'm surprised its taken until now to really capture the public's imagination.
To start with, it's excellent exercise, and gets you outside in the fresh air regularly.
There's always weeding, and planting and sowing and harvesting to be done, not demanding enough to work up a sweat, but certainly enough to get you feeling active and alive.
That's just the beginning of the health benefits though.
The most obvious benefit of having your own vegetable garden is the control you have over the vegetables that end up on your table.
You can choose yourself whether you want chemical pesticides involved, and what kind of fertilizers.
You decide how long the plants have to grow, and when they should be harvested.
You also have complete control over the varieties of vegetables grown - you can choose based upon taste, rather than accepting the varieties thrust on you at the supermarket because the farmer wanted a high yielding crop that would transport well.
You can also pick vegetables that don't have mass market appeal, and so aren't available at your local grocery store.
Starting a vegetable garden is easy, however much space you have at home.
There are options available to you if you have a big garden, a small garden, a completely paved garden or no garden at all.
If you have no space at all, you can grow several vegetables, and many herbs, indoors.
Window ledges are ideal spots, provided they get a lot of sunlight, and ultraviolet lights work fine if you don't have a suitable spot by a window.
If you choose to grow indoors, be sure to rotate the plants frequently, so that both sides get exposed to sunlight equally.
Indoor plants also benefit from a breeze - if they were outdoors, they would be exposed to the wind, which would strengthen their stems, promoting growth, so it is helpful to open the window they're next to for an hour a day if possible.
On a patio, you can grow vegetables and herbs in containers.
Different vegetables will need pots of different sizes - chillies will use a much smaller container than potatoes for example.
Otherwise they are much the same as growing plants in the ground.
If you're going to grow vegetables in the ground, it pays to take a little time to design your garden before you start planting.
Crops can't be grown in the same spot year on year - different plants absorb different nutrients form the soil, and diseases and pests can also take hold if the same plants are continually grown in the same spot.
With this in mind, if you draw up a plan dividing the ground you'll use into zones, which you'll then rotate the crops between, you wont experience these problems.
I hope this article has peaked your interest in vegetable gardening.
If you would like to read more, vegetable gardening books are in no short supply - perhaps check amazon or your local library.
It's fulfilling on so many levels that sometimes I'm surprised its taken until now to really capture the public's imagination.
To start with, it's excellent exercise, and gets you outside in the fresh air regularly.
There's always weeding, and planting and sowing and harvesting to be done, not demanding enough to work up a sweat, but certainly enough to get you feeling active and alive.
That's just the beginning of the health benefits though.
The most obvious benefit of having your own vegetable garden is the control you have over the vegetables that end up on your table.
You can choose yourself whether you want chemical pesticides involved, and what kind of fertilizers.
You decide how long the plants have to grow, and when they should be harvested.
You also have complete control over the varieties of vegetables grown - you can choose based upon taste, rather than accepting the varieties thrust on you at the supermarket because the farmer wanted a high yielding crop that would transport well.
You can also pick vegetables that don't have mass market appeal, and so aren't available at your local grocery store.
Starting a vegetable garden is easy, however much space you have at home.
There are options available to you if you have a big garden, a small garden, a completely paved garden or no garden at all.
If you have no space at all, you can grow several vegetables, and many herbs, indoors.
Window ledges are ideal spots, provided they get a lot of sunlight, and ultraviolet lights work fine if you don't have a suitable spot by a window.
If you choose to grow indoors, be sure to rotate the plants frequently, so that both sides get exposed to sunlight equally.
Indoor plants also benefit from a breeze - if they were outdoors, they would be exposed to the wind, which would strengthen their stems, promoting growth, so it is helpful to open the window they're next to for an hour a day if possible.
On a patio, you can grow vegetables and herbs in containers.
Different vegetables will need pots of different sizes - chillies will use a much smaller container than potatoes for example.
Otherwise they are much the same as growing plants in the ground.
If you're going to grow vegetables in the ground, it pays to take a little time to design your garden before you start planting.
Crops can't be grown in the same spot year on year - different plants absorb different nutrients form the soil, and diseases and pests can also take hold if the same plants are continually grown in the same spot.
With this in mind, if you draw up a plan dividing the ground you'll use into zones, which you'll then rotate the crops between, you wont experience these problems.
I hope this article has peaked your interest in vegetable gardening.
If you would like to read more, vegetable gardening books are in no short supply - perhaps check amazon or your local library.