One of the most satisfying things you can ever do in life is to grow the food that you eat. Now even though it would be nice, we’re not suggesting that you up and move to a farm or live off the land completely, but how about taking a stab at growing your own veggies or fruits. The benefits of growing your own produce are endless. It’s much more nutritional (because you’ll likely eat it when it’s ripest), you can make sure it’s organic if you don’t want to use fertilizers and weed control, it’s fresh and you can pick it when it’s ripe, it’s cheaper, it’s lessens your carbon footprint, and the list goes on.
We are “do- it – yourselfer’s” here at Paramount and find this site great at explaining some tips for creating your above ground garden.
There are so many other websites to explain how to build an in ground garden if that’s what you’d prefer, and there’s even Gardening for Dummies books available when in doubt. A trusty companion for what to grow and in what season is the Farmer’s Almanac. We’re quite lucky here in southern Greater Toronto Area, because we have the climate to grow an array of produce. It’s a well-known fact that we do well growing apples, peaches, pears, root vegetables, squash and pumpkins but did you know that we can also grow oranges, bananas and olives?
Are you worried about rabbits or other rodents eating your vegetables? A couple of simple tricks to keep these hungry “pests” out of an unfenced garden are as follows. 1) Plant some unappealing flowers around the outer edge of your garden. Rabbits for example, which are a common nuisance in urban centers, do not like peonies and marigolds. 2) Use a predator’s urine around your garden which should scare off these rodents. You can buy coyote or wolf urine, for example, from some select home and garden stores or online. 3) When your fruits and veggies start to germinate, spray the leaves with hot sauce. Hopefully this will keep them away long enough to mature.
If you’re not the handy man/ woman type or you’re simply too busy, then allow us to take the honey – do list off your hands and leave it to us! There are a variety of ways that a garden can be built, in ground gardens or fenced in gardens are other options. The possibilities are endless!
