Start a home garden, for so many good reasons
Take a sniff of that fresh spring air – it’s gardening time!
Here are eight good reasons to grow a vegetable garden:
- Reduce your carbon footprint: there are a lot of emissions embedded in the food we eat, mostly from the fuel and fertilizer used to grow, process and transport that food.
- Save money: growing a portion of your own food is a great way to lower your grocery bills
- Self sufficiency: there’s a certain satisfaction that comes with producing at least a part of your own food supply. These days, a certain measure of security too.
- Quality: you can’t beat the freshness, taste and nutrition of veggies that can go from garden to plate in mere minutes
- You know exactly what you’re eating: no additives or chemicals you don’t know about because you grew it yourself, with a little help from Mother Nature!
- Good for your body: gardening is great physical exercise in an era when a lot of us (me included) spend too much time in front of a screen
- Good for your mind: getting away from everyday stresses; focussing on simple tasks; watching plants grow day by day… all good for our mental health!
- Less food waste: if you grew that carrot, you’re not likely to toss it out over a little defect. As well, unlike food in the fridge, food in the garden stays fresh until the minute you need it.
Never gardened before? Don’t be intimidated! You can find a ton of resources online, or at your local garden center, or from friends who garden.
Don’t have much space? Consider using raised beds; pots; vertical gardens or trellises to make the most of what you have. They even can work on apartment balconies with reasonable southern exposure.
Not sure where to begin?
- Lettuce and spinach: quick to germinate, quick to mature
- Radish: one of the easiest veggies to grow (provided you like them, of course!)
- Beets: quick to germinate; you can eat the greens and the delicious roots
- Onions: grown from miniature onions called ‘sets’ rather than seeds; very satisfying to grow as green shoots emerge quickly and grow rapidly
- Cucumbers: love the heat and love to climb – but need to be pollinated, so be sure bees have access to them
- Carrots: slower to emerge, but available in a variety of colours to make it fun for kids
- Potatoes: start with seed potatoes (similar to regular potatoes, but specially grown to be disease-free) from your farm store or garden center; watch them grow all summer; and then have fun digging up your new potatoes in the fall (like a treasure hunt!)
So what are you waiting for? Get out there and garden, for many good reasons!
In the news:
“We have essentially changed our perspective”: Hydro Quebec unveils a new energy plan that includes 3,000 MW of new solar energy! (For perspective, about the same amount of power that NB uses on a cold winter day)
Western automakers scramble to catch up to the features and price points of electric vehicles manufactured by their Chinese rivals.
In China, emissions fall for the first time ever, thanks to rapid growth in clean power. In the US, Donald Trump wants to bring back incandescent light bulbs.
Quotable:
“Better is only possible if you believe it’s possible and fight for it.”
- Alex Himelfarb, May 16, 2025, in part 3 of “Am I optimistic and, if so, how is that even possible” (thoughtful, well-written trilogy about the many crises we face and what’s needed to get us through them)