If you’re reading this, chances are you’re already considering starting your own garden. And if you’re considering starting your own garden, but haven’t done it yet, this post is for you.

Maybe you need that extra boost to get you going (and growing!). Maybe you don’t think you can do it. Maybe you think it’s too expensive. Maybe you don’t think you have the knowledge or skill to grow your own food. Toss out the doubt and plant the seeds of confidence (and carrots, lettuce, peas, onion….and so much more), and lets get growing!

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It takes time to learn.

Learning how to garden takes time, which is one the the reasons you should start gardening now. You can get a wealth of valuable information from books, YouTube, Pinterest, and more, but I feel like learning to garden is more of a trial and error process. Don’t get me wrong, many of the ”rules”, guidelines, and suggestions regarding growing are likely the same from one place to another, but some of it is very location, soil, and weather dependent, so not everything is a ”one garden fits all” deal. What works for one may not work for another. This is why it’s great to talk to local gardeners to get better insight into what works for your gardening zone, and begin gardening so you have time to learn. Then, eventually, you may become one of those local gardeners people go to for advice.

Become more self sufficient.

Self sufficiency builds confidence, and having confidence is key to succeeding in many aspects of life. Taking a tiny seed and growing something that will feed yourself, friends, and family is an amazing thing. You may not expect something so minuscule to produce anything, but with your help, water, and sunshine it will grow. And when you start gardening you’ll not only be growing fruits, veggies, and your confidence, you’ll also be able to begin relying on yourself for food instead of the grocery store. This self sufficiency and self reliance is a great skill to have.

Learn about your food.

When you buy fruit and veggies at your grocery store or market, do you really know where they come from? While there’s nothing wrong with buying things from the grocery store, I do it often, it is much more assuring to get vegetables right from your own garden were you know where and how they were grown and taken care of.

It’s also so interesting to see the growth process for various things. Learning about the different nuances for crops is fascinating. Even just reading seed packets about different varieties of the same vegetable is really eye opening, and shows you just how many things go into growing your food. With that being said, it’s likely still easier than you think!

It’s easier than you think.

You can really make gardening as easy or as complicated as you’d like. If you want to research, do soil testing, compare varieties, and more, that’s great! If you want to plop some carrot seeds into finger-poked holes in the soil, thats great, too! I know that technically there are probably right ways and wrong ways to start gardening, but if it works for you, then it works. And it does’t always need to be hard.

I’m all about the trial and error method. I’m all about what’s simple and easy to figure out. And guess what? I still get veggies to grow! So, if you’re delaying starting your garden because you think it may be too difficult, think again. Yes, research and planning helps, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be difficult or complicated. Just give it a try and see for yourself how simple it can be.

It’s inexpensive to start gardening.

Like any hobby, gardening can be as expensive as you want to make it. You don’t need a massive greenhouse with a self-watering system and temperature controlled fans to start gardening (although that would be awesome). With probably less than $30 you can start planting. All you really need is soil, a container or space for planting, and some seeds. Pretty simple,right? Also, if you grow your own produce you may even save some money in the long run.

You’ll appreciate your food more.

The more food you grow and harvest yourself, the more you’ll appreciate it. It’s so easy to go to the store, pick up a bag of carrots, take them home, and start munching on them without giving much thought to how the carrots got there. It took the process of getting seeds, planting, watering, patiently waiting, harvesting, bagging, and then transporting them to the store for you to get them, not to mention the many other things it takes to put produce on the shelves. Unless you grow it yourself, you’ll likely not appreciate fresh produce as much as it deserves.

It’s green in more ways than one.

Your gained appreciation of how produce is grown will likely encourage you to waste less fruits and veggies. After the time and effort you put in to growing your own, you’ll see just how valuable they are. Is the lettuce you grew starting to wilt? Better make a salad tonight! Are your strawberries getting soft? Time to find a recipe for them! Not only that, but by cutting out some of the transportation and shortening the distance from garden to plate, you’ll be saving fuel as well.

Starting a garden is a healthy hobby.

Not only is gardening healthy for the environment, it is great for you as well! The act of gardening is great exercise and the perfect way to get out and grab some fresh air. Not to mention the luxury of all the delicious fresh vegetables you’ll be able to eat! If you’re like me, you reach for the closest and easiest snack to eat. If you have a garden those snacks may become fresh vegetables, berries, and fruits! It’s an all around productive and healthy hobby.

You’ll have the freshest produce.

Living in Alaska makes one really appreciate fresh fruit and vegetables. That short distance from the garden to your kitchen will give you the freshest produce possible. Sometimes you may need to taste test, so it may not even make it to the kitchen!

It’s so convenient.

Talk about fast food, getting fresh food from your own plants is as speedy as it gets! Having the convenience of a backyard grocery store is really a game changer.

Bonus: Gardening is fun!

More importantly, it’s fun! Picking out what we’re going to grow for the year is such a fun time. You can really experiment with different things if you want, and watching those tiny seeds turning to salads, canned veggies, jams, smoothies and more is so exciting.

I hope this has encouraged you to start gardening today. I truly enjoy this hobby, and hope that you will too! If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below and I’ll be happy to answer. Thanks for visiting Everyday Alaska!