By Sharon Omahen
University of Georgia
You can save money on your food bill and serve your family
fresh
vegetables. You just have to get your hands dirty and plant your
own backyard garden.
A University of Georgia horticulturist says planting and
tending
a home vegetable garden is easier than you might think.
“Most people are a little nervous at the thought of planting
their first garden,” said Bob Westerfield, a consumer
horticulturist with the UGA College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences. “It’s fairly simple. But you have to stay
on top of it.”
Growing, planting, learning
Westerfield plants fall and spring vegetable gardens as part
of
his work duties. But he also gardens at home to provide his
family fresh vegetables.
“A home vegetable garden is a great way to supplement your
diet
with fresh vegetables,” he said. “And you know exactly which
chemicals were used on the plants because you were the
grower.”
Grocery vegetables can’t compare to freshly picked, he
said.
“Buy a tomato, grow a tomato and compare the two,” he said.
“There’s just no contest. The homegrown one will be far
superior.”
Sweet corn is an even better crop for a homegrown-store-bought
comparison test, Westerfield said.
“Sugar builds up in sweet corn just before it’s harvested in
the
field,” he said. “When it’s picked, the sugar turns to starch
within hours. By the time you buy the corn from the grocery
store, it could have been there for a week or so, and the sugar
has all turned to starch. With sweet corn growing in your home
garden, you can go out and pick it and eat it within an
hour.”
The sugar-to-starch conversion is one reason the triple sweet
corn variety has become a popular option over the traditional
Silver Queen variety. “Triple sweets are designed to have more
sugar content,” he said. “They have genes that help the corn
store the sugar longer.”
Inexpensive food source
Westerfield says home-garden vegetables aren’t just better.
They’re cheaper, too.
“Seeds are really cheap,” he said. “And you can store your
harvest in cans or in the freezer and enjoy your home garden
vegetables year-round.”
At home, Westerfield and his family freeze sweet corn and
broccoli and can green beans and homemade tomato paste. At work,
he donates the vegetables from his trial gardens to area food
pantries.
“The food pantries really appreciate the fresh vegetables,
and so
do the patrons,” he said. “Fresh vegetables are welcome treats to
someone who’s used to eating primarily canned foods.”
Georgia’s climate allows home gardeners the luxury of
planting summer and fall gardens. So, it’s never too late to
start.
