Why you should grow your own greens...

For those that know me, you will know that I am more like a grandma than a 26 year old. I prefer cooking over partying, sitting on the couch with cups of herbal tea and book over a boozy night in town and gardening over putting on an uncomfortable party dress and heels. Now don't get me wrong occasionally I like to call upon the social butterfly inside and have a big, fun, night out dancing until the sun comes up. However, I usually know this will be at the cost of my health and it will take me days to recover and feel 100% again, however I digress.

My point is I love getting out in the garden and into the fresh air. Not only does this alone benefit my physical body but it benefits my emotional state as well. Being in close vicinity to nature truly does give you a sense of wellbeing and happiness. BUT the benefits that the nutrients your body will have access to once your little baby greens have started growing from your mineral and vitamin rich soil will be endless.

Food (in particular) greens and I am mentioning greens here primarily because they are the easiest to start to play with when you have never gardened before is utilised so much more efficiently by your body when it is fresh and locally grown. If it's organic - even better.

To get the most out of your greens the best place to start is with good quality soil. Rich, fertilised, moist soil. I like to add soaked kelp flakes into my soil to increase mineral content. Start with planting basic greens such as spinach, lettuce (of a wide range of varities) and kale. You can then look at silverbeet, rocket, endive, asian greens and so on.

With regular sunlight, water and some kind words these little seedlings will be reaching for the sky in no time. Always cut the outer leaves first when harvesting to encourage further growth.

The nutrients in your freshly harvested organic greens will do your body ten times better than any greens from a supermarket that have been sitting in storage, have millions of travel miles behind them and have been man handled from here to Mexico.

#greens #soil #nutrients #minerals #kelp #sun #water #spinach #rocket #endive #silverbeet