The Fruits (and Veggies) of Your Garden

The Fruits (and Veggies) of Your Garden

There is nothing better than walking outside when it's time to cook and picking a variety of ingredients you will be needing for your meal. I am lucky to live in an apartment complex run by an on-site manager who loves gardening and who has started a communal garden for all the residents. When I came back to Berkeley after a summer of traveling, I was excited to be able to pick kale, swiss chard, zucchini, a type of Italian squash, blackberries, and pounds upon pounds of tomatoes (first cherry tomatoes, now large Early Girl and Brandywine varieties). And, my own potted garden (which was cared for by my neighbor while I was gone) still yielded a bit of lettuce and a few green onions before I planted new lettuce, green onions, cilantro, basil, and rosemary seedlings.

If you don't have a garden and haven't experienced the pleasure of eating the fruits and vegetables that you grew yourself, I highly recommend trying it. Potted gardens are quite easy to set up and even larger plots, if you have room for a true garden, are not a lot of work if you pick appropriate plants. And, the work you do put into the garden will pay off when your fruits and veggies are ready to be picked. They also just so happen taste better than store-bought produce because they ripen slower. And, did I mention that you can save money? Having tomatoes from the garden literally saves me $10 a week at the Farmer's Market and I eat even more tomatoes than I would normally allow myself to buy.