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8 Reasons to Start Growing Your Own Food from Seed

Royal City Nursery-Ontario-8 Reasons to Start Growing Your Own Food from Seed-planting lettuce

We know what you’re thinking: growing your own food from seed has got to be a lot of work, time, and money, and can you even grow your own food in Ontario, anyways? Our answer is an emphatic yes! We’re big believers in self-sufficiency and a job well done, and there’s no feeling of satisfaction quite like the joy of seeing your garden beginning to bear fruit. If you need some more convincing, here are eight excellent reasons to start growing your own food just in time to order your garden seeds for the season:

Royal City Nursery-Ontario-8 Reasons to Start Growing Your Own Food from Seed-grocery receipt

1. You’ll Save Money

This one is obvious. The giant, one-time purchase of seeds, soil, and other materials at the beginning of the growing season can often feel intimidating compared to your routine grocery store purchases, which are spread out over weeks and so don’t feel like such a significant investment. However, seeds are a fraction of the price of grocery store vegetables, and the other supplies you’ll need still end up being much cheaper than a few months (or less!) of groceries. 

 

2. It Tastes Better

Grocery store fruits and vegetables are bred to be durable and long-lived, usually at the expense of flavour. When you grow your own food from seeds, however, you’ll be introduced to plenty of heirloom varieties that may not last as long on the shelf but taste much, much better. After all, what’s the point of eating something if you’re not going to enjoy it a little?

Royal City Nursery-Ontario-8 Reasons to Start Growing Your Own Food from Seed-egg carton seedlings

3. You’ll Lower Your Environmental Impact

Food is often shipped to local grocery stores across counties, provinces, and even countries, which means that a lot of the food we eat leaves a substantial carbon footprint. Growing food in your backyard is a great way to reduce this footprint and your environmental impact. Rather than being processed by countless other hands and packed onto trucks, trains, and planes, your backyard harvest will simply need to travel a few steps from your garden into your kitchen!

When you grow your own food from seed, you also control what chemicals or additives reach your soil and your produce, ensuring you’re not eating anything you don’t want to be and further lowering your ecological impact.

 

4. You’ll Reduce Your Food Waste

Another positive of growing your own food is that you’ll cut down on food waste! Because your “farm” is in your backyard, you’ll only need to harvest what you need, leaving the rest to grow until the next time. The produce you do bring into your home will also be fresher, and because you put so much love into it, you’ll want to gobble it up right away, meaning it’s less likely to go bad sitting at the back of your refrigerator.

Royal City Nursery-Ontario-8 Reasons to Start Growing Your Own Food from Seed-vegetable garden

5. It’s Beautiful!

Vegetable and fruit plants are not only useful and productive, but they’re also absolutely stunning! They look great in raised beds as part of a food garden, and are also breathtaking when incorporated into your landscape or scattered among your patio pots. Blueberries and basil, for instance, have gorgeous foliage that works perfectly as accent pieces. Herbs like thyme, borage, or sage, meanwhile, make for show-stopping additions to any garden bed, and don’t get us started on classic beauties like peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes!

 

6. You’ll Deepen Your Roots in Your Community

When you grow food from seeds, you aren’t the only one who reaps the benefits. You get to be the friend, family member, parent, or neighbour with the most unusual, specialty, and delicious fruits and vegetables. Even better, you get to share these bounties with your community! After all, everyone loves the neighbour with the “free, take a few!” basket of apples or tomatoes on the curb. 

If you have kids at home, growing food from seed is also an excellent way to teach them about the natural world. Have them help you start your seeds and watch them as they grow. Not only will they be filled with the awe and wonder that comes with watching the fruits of your labour grow, but you’ll also have a pair of helping hands!

Royal City Nursery-Ontario-8 Reasons to Start Growing Your Own Food from Seed-cucumber flower pollinator

7. It Helps Your Local Pollinators

When you grow fruit or vegetables in your garden here in Ontario, you form a profoundly interconnected relationship with your pollinator community. Pollinators are an essential part of our ecosystem, and when you grow your own food, you support them immensely. The plants you put in the ground give pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds a wealth of habitat and, most importantly, a food source. When they pollinate your crops, they’re giving you a gift right back—many plants can’t produce fruit without pollination! 

8. It’s Easier Than You Think

It’s true: growing your own food really is easier than you think! You don’t need to install raised beds or start a full-blown farm all at once. This year, maybe just start with a few carrot seeds in a deep pot, or keep a few bean plants so you and your family can watch them grow before your very eyes. You can even grow food indoors by starting sprouts or keeping citrus trees in a south-facing window. There are countless ways you can be a food gardener!

Royal City Nursery-Ontario-8 Reasons to Start Growing Your Own Food from Seed-seedlings

Whether your space is big or small, we at Royal City Nursery can’t recommend growing your garden from seeds more strongly! If you’re looking for tips and guidance to help you grow your own food, look no further than Royal City Nursery in Guelph, ON!

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