Nothing better than homegrown veggies

Hey!! I wrote this post is to encourage you to grow your own veggies & fruits, and here are some of my favourite reasons why:

• they taste so much better
• you decide wether you want to “eat” the pesticides or not. I say NOT
• your veggies won’t travel for hours or even days
• they won’t be harvested unless they are ripe and ready to eat
• you will plant your garden with what you love to consume, therefore you will be eager to spend time in it

So now, make up your list of veggies you’d like to eat this summer, then same with fruits, if you’ve got some room and  although some fruit trees may take longer to bear fruits, don’t get discouraged, they will eventually! And if you don’t have the space for a tree, so don’t worry there are plenty of gorgeous fruits that will grow in planters and so are some veggies!

Start with a few, don’t go the full monty and then fail because you cant look after them. They will need Water, Compost, and some TLC.

The key is to have great rich soil -like compost, very well drained and extremely loose… This is exactly how the best quality soil is like. I have started my own compost, but the thing is, that it takes about 90 days to be ready, it really smells, and it takes up quite a bit of room. This is a fantastic option for Composter

 

My planning

For the next season, I have a plan. Remember that for me until june, we will be entering fall. So I have been preparing my orchard and made this plan:

Hopefully it’ll work out!

I got this Survaival Essential 100 Seed Bank which is great to have.

My fav reading about kitchen gardens

I recommend reading books that will give you an idea of how the plant will develop best in your area, due to weather conditions. Don’t worry, I’ll list some of my favourite reads, so you can “cut corners”.

 

 

I use a lot of cooking books, that talk about the way to grow what you will cook. My first one was Jamie Oliver, got this book in 2008, back in England while Nacho was playing polo in West Sussex (@ Cowdray), and at the supermarket I found this amazong inspiration for me to cook. It brings me back to that time that I really enjoyed it.

There is also an Argentine book I suggest for the same reason, the author’s name is Clara Billoch

And of course the amazing Selby. The Edible Selby book is a whole other level of inspiration. I’m in love with all of his books, but this artsy, heart warming and simply real book, has got me coming back for more. Real people, real kitchens, so different from each other.

Rodale’s Basic Organic Gardening book has a bit of everything and it’s good for beginners.

 

My inspiration

 

What to grow

In my case, I started at home growing green salad. I loved mixed greens so I begun using containers such conserve food cans to grow lettuces, arugula and even Basil. They look so pretty and you are recycling! Also you can use terracotta ones, or go with wicker baskets lined up with plastic bags and draining holes on the bottom…

Also cherry tomatoes will be happy in a well drained in containers

After I moved to my house, I decided to leave a small part of the garden available for growing herbs. Close to the kitchen window so it had easy access.

In my farm on the other hand, I made some more planning and decided to have a propper kitchen garden.

I will only buy organic non GMO seeds like these

Heirloom

Some ideas for fruits ( my favourites in summer)

• peach
• red plum
• yellow plum
• cherries

Some ideas for veggies (summer)

• lettuce
• tomato
• aragula
• bell pepper
• cherry tomatoes (all colours)
• artichokes

Some ideas for Veggies (winter)

• romanesco broccoli
• cabbage
• leek
• radishes
• beet
• carrot

Some ideas for fruits (for winter)

• lemon
• orange
• grapefruit (ruby i love)
• clementines
• persimon
• quince

 

There is this great app I downloaded, called Garden Planner. It helps you design and calculate the amount of plants and species you need according to different situations.

I hope you find some inspiration on the photos below and please ask me anything you want to know, I’ll do my best in answering back to you asap!