Learn as You Grow

I’m a city lady – born and raised in Washington, DC. I thought all foods came from the grocery store, and I never considered it to be any different, really. My mom and I went grocery shopping, brought the food home, and cooked it. 

I remember…

I do remember being in kindergarten and we were all given a bean and planted it inside of a small milk carton. The bean sprouted and that’s pretty much all I remember about that project.

We just did it.

I don’t remember there being any talking about why we did it.

My Grandfather’s Apple Tree

The one thing I will always remember about living in the city is that my grandfather had an apple tree in his backyard. Every season we had tons of apples. There was such an abundance of apples that we wasted on the ground. The neighborhood children would jump over our fence to get apples and often we threw the apples at each other.

Silly children having fun, we had no idea of the value of food… especially fresh fruit right off the tree. I could literally pick a green apple and eat it every day for months. Still, I was a city girl and having an apple tree had no value to me at that time. I just didn’t know. 

Fast Forward to Today

Fast forward to today, not only do I have apple trees, but we also grow a variety of foods. My grandfather would be so proud of me. He had a farm in West Virginia that he rented to a farmer and his family. He visited his farm often. Decades ago, I would not have imagined that we would be growing food. Fortunately for me, my husband grew up in the country and growing food was normal life for his family. 

It was not until about ten years ago that I got an idea in my head about growing food. By the time my husband and I met, he was not growing anything. We shopped at the grocery store and that was it. One day it occurred to me that we were totally 100% dependent on someone else feeding our family.

I told my husband that we should at least be able to grow some lettuce and make a salad. I couldn’t shake the feeling of not being able to provide any food at all for ourselves. We talked it over and decided to start growing something. Keep in mind, I had only planted one little bean in a little milk carton so I had no experience that counted. 

Learn as You Grow

That didn’t stop me though! I figured it couldn’t be that hard. Dig a hole, put a seed inside, water it, and watch it grow. Ta-da! Surprisingly, it is that simple – to a degree. Growing food is not hard and you really do learn as you “grow”. While there’s a lot to learn about growing food, you don’t have to learn a lot to get started. 

Things You Need to Know to Get Started

From my experience there are only a couple of things you need to know to start your food growing journey. You need to know what you want to grow and where you want to grow it.  Most of the time lettuce and tomatoes are a good start for a novice grower. If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, growing herbs just might be your thing.

Decide what you want to grow and buy the seeds.

Whenever you decide to grow food, you can get seed packets. Typically, the back of the pack gives you all the details you need to start. It tells you when to sow the seeds, how much light is needed, and how often to water. There are other details listed that are very helpful. If you get seeds from a feed store or any where else where they are not packaged, you can always ask the person there about the seeds. If push comes to shove – there’s always online although starting out I would recommend purchasing seed packets.

Decide where you want to grow and plant.

Next, decide where you want to grow, meaning the physical space. Preferably you want to choose a space where you have the most sunlight. Growing outdoors would be ideal; however, if you have limited outdoor space or no outdoor space, you may grow inside near a sunny window. If you go the indoor route, you’ll need potting soil. 

If you’re growing outdoors you may grow in a front yard, back yard, or side yard. You may use your patio, balcony, deck, or a small green house. If you’re growing indoors, containers are a great option. They are efficient and portable and can be moved from indoors to outdoors. When growing indoors, choose a space that has a window with plenty of sunlight.

A container can be a pot or planter, just make sure it has holes on the bottom for drainage. These can be found at your local stores, yard sales, or you may have some you can recycle from previously purchased plants or flowers. Look around your home as well. You might be surprised at what you have on hand. 

How to Get Started

Start off with one or two foods to grow. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty, LOL! If you can follow directions, you can grow something.

The truth is, it’s in us.

Learning new things is always a great experience and growing food, even more so. Eating a salad with the lettuce you grow yourself is priceless and tastier too! 

Believe me, if a straight up city girl with no experience (who didn’t start growing food until my mid-forties) can do it, you certainly can!

Final Thoughts

Today there are unlimited resources and knowledge is more plentiful than ever. All you need is a desire and a start date. You are always welcome back here for more information and motivation. 

Remember, you don’t have to know a lot about growing food. Learn as you “grow”. 

Abundant gratitude. Produce not just consume.