Home “Eco”nomics – Vegetable Gardens

Gemma Alexander August 11, 2020

From the Victory Gardens of World War II to the back-to-the-land-movement of the ‘60s to the present day, a home vegetable garden has symbolized healthful and sustainable living. But gardeners are not guaranteed cheaper, more environmentally friendly vegetables.

There are many potential benefits of vegetable gardening. It’s good exercise shown to be correlated to long life. Home-grown produce is often fresher and more flavorful than what’s available at the store.  And growing vegetables at home can be cheaper and more environmentally friendly than buying them. Home gardeners also help preserve the genetic diversity of our food crops.

If you aren’t careful, you can end up using a lot of water and dumping a lot of chemicals to grow expensive vegetables. In that case, you might be better off leaving the growing to the farmers.

Water

Commercial agriculture is the biggest use of ground and surface water in the United States. It accounts for approximately 80% of the nation’s water consumption overall, and more than 90% in many western states. But the image……[To continue reading the full article]

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