More people are embracing healthy lifestyles and eating more organically grown vegetables and foods, including planting their own kitchen gardens.
Growing organic vegetables can offer tremendous benefits including a clean and sustainable environment, a healthy and safe food supply and an enjoyable, rewarding experience and exercise. Organic vegetables are free from chemicals and fertilizers and having a garden encourages birds, bees and butterflies.
Many years ago, I met a cancer survivor who had started to grow her own vegetables. I suggested that she use well-rotted pen manure and compost, sun-dried and chipped to make her beds and plant boxes. She left seeds to dry from the same vegetables she planted to set her seedlings. When all of this was done and the seedlings were approximately 2 inches tall, they were transplanted to the beds. Alongside the beds some companion plants were planted to keep the insects and pests away.