Why grow your own?
We can buy almost any fruit and vegetable at the supermarket so why should I grow my own? There are three key questions to ask yourself when it comes to the products we consume.
1. What are the chemicals in this vegetable?
Our healthy nutritious gifts from the Earth are, mainly grown in big monoculture farms and to realise huge yields, keeping pests etc. in check with fertilisers, pesticides, and other chemicals. Also are many of the seeds manufactured and processed to make them grow quicker, bigger or make them disease resilient. Finally in order for them to sustain the long journey to the supermarket they are picked unripe, spayed with chemical or washed in chlorine. This leads us to question number two:
2. How long is the journey to the store?
As we become more aware of climate change and the impact of our pollution, we can question the environmental impact of shipping fruits and veggies from far-away countries across oceans. It’s not only the environmental impact, it’s also the impact on the product…
Fresh vegetables transported in trucks across Europe or the US can be en route for days. Even with air-fright transport between continents it takes days for your vegetables to end up on the supermarket selves. So your fresh veggies aren’t that fresh really! If you are lucky they are just about a week - 10 days old and that of course makes you wonder….
3. Are there still any nutrients left?
By the time the product reaches the supermarket shelves it’s been sprayed or washed with chemicals, gone through packaging and the long transportation journey. So what is really the nutrients that it still has? Studies show that for example spinach looses up to 90% of its vitamin C within 24 hours after harvest and 50% of its other nutrients within a week.
In general vegetables loose 15-75% of their Vitamin C within a week from harvest and studies show the same degree of reduction for other vitamins, such as Vitamin B.
So take back control
Know what is on your plate, say no to chemicals and pesticides and priorities your health!
Start your own vegetable garden even if you only have a balcony or terrace.
It’s absolutely worth it!
When you grow your own, you retain up to 75% more nutrients and consume 100% less chemicals.