Grober Green

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- a select article from the Aquaponics Journal

by Rebecca Nelson

A mini aquaponics system is an excellent means of demonstrating aquaponic principles and the nitrification cycle in a recirculating aquatic environment. Following are instructions for building a small system that is ideal for a teacher, students of hobbyists who wants to get a start in aquaponics.

What You’ll Need:

Following is a list of the parts you’ll need to build an aquaponic system. The next section, Components Explained, describes and explains each of these components and includes recommendations for alternative items and specific products.

* A tank for the fish: 3-20 gallon, glass or plastic container ($5 – $20)

* Gravel – 2.5 lbs./gravel for every 5 gallons of water in the fish tank ($2 – $5)

* Water pump – 3-4 watt pump capable of lifting 18” – 54” at 30 – 100/gal/hour (small circulation or fountain pump is ideal) ($19 – $40)

* 3 ft. of plastic tubing that fits the outlet on your water pump ($1 – $2)

* Aquarium air pump sized for the number of gallons in your fish tank ($8 – $16)

* Air stone (1” – 3”) ($1 – $2)

* 3 ft. of air tubing to connect the air pump to the air stone (must fit the air pump outlet) ($ 1)

* Grow Bed – must sit on top of fish tank and be 3” – 8” deep ($ 5 – $20)

* Growing Medium – enough pea gravel, perlite, coconut coir, expanded clay pebbles or peat moss to fill the grow bed ($2 – $5)

* pH test kit and, depending on the pH of your water, pH down or pH up ($5 – $15)

* Fish and plants

Tools Required:

*

Drill with 1/4” or 3/16” bit and 1/2” bit

* Scissors

* Electrical tape

Component Explanation:

a tank for the fish

The fish tank can be a glass or plexi-glass aquarium or you can use any other clean container that holds water, for example, a plastic tub, bucket or barrel. We recommend anything between 3 – 20 gallons, although, you can go with a larger tank if you have the space. Small, clean plastic amphibian cages, available in most pet shops, make an excellent mini-system. They hold about 3 gallons and are quite inexpensive.

The standard sized fish aquariums of 10 and 20 gallons are also reasonably priced. The larger the tank, the larger grow bed area you can support. As a general rule, you can support 1 – 2 square feet of growing area for every 10 gallons of fish tank water.

gravel for tank bottom

The gravel serves as a home to the nitrifying bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate, which can be used by the plants. Most pet stores carry natural or colored aquarium gravel. The individual pebbles are about 1/8” in size. Be sure to wash the gravel thoroughly before using it because it is often dusty. Unwashed gravel will cloud your tank water.

water pump and tubing

A small water pump is used to pump the water from the fish tank to the grow bed. After the water is pumped into the grow bed, it gravity-feeds back to the fish tank. You’ll need enough tubing to go from the outlet on the pump to the top of your grow bed and form a circle within it.

air pump, air stone and tubing

You need an air pump to blow air into the tank water for both the fish and the plants. Tubing connects the air pump to an air stone at the bottom of the tank. The air stone breaks the stream of bubbles coming from the air pump into micro-bubbles, which greatly increase the oxygenation in the water.

grow bed

The grow bed, which sits on top of the tank, must be slightly larger than the length and width of the fish tank. The grow bed is filled with a growing medium that the plants grow in. A plastic Rubbermaid container, a garden planter or other container that will sit on top of the tank will work fine. The container should be between 3” – 8” deep.

You can use a plastic tub or, for a very nice looking unit, build one out of plexi-glass and seal it with a non-toxic, silicone glue. If you build the grow bed, you can accommodate an aquarium light by making a cavity in the grow bed that the light can slide into. If you are using some other kind of container, a light can sit just behind it if there is room.

growing medium

A growing medium is a porous, chemically inert material that holds the plant roots and maintains moisture. Examples include: perlite, expanded clay pebbles, peat moss, pea gravel and coconut coir. You need enough to fill your grow bed.

fish and plants

In an aquaponic system, the fish provide the nutrients the plants need and the plants purify the water by consuming those nutrients.

Optional Components:

aquarium heater (for tropical fish)

Most gardeners or aquarists setting up an aquaponic system choose ornamental fish for the tank and most ornamental fish originate in tropical waters. A tank temperature of 78 degrees F will need to be maintained for tropical fish. Two kinds of aquarium heaters are available, submerged and tank-side mounted. Either will work, but be sure the heater you choose is sized for the number of gallons of water in your fish tank. If the aquaponic system is placed in an area where the air temperature is maintained between 70 – 76 F or, if you choose cool water fish goldfish, you do not need a heater.

light for fish tank

Most aquariums have a florescent light so you can see the fish and monitor their health. You can add one if you’d like but it is not a necessity.

grow light for the plants

If you establish your system in an area with low light levels, you may need to add artificial light for healthy plant growth. Keep in mind that bright light will quickly encourage algae growth in the fish tank. You should try to point an artificial light in a way so that it does not directly penetrate the fish tank. If you do have rapid algae growth, you can scrape the interior walls of the fish tank or buy a plecostomus, a fish that eats algae. If the grow bed is in a windowsill with bright sunlight, in a greenhouse or planted with plants requiring low light levels, a grow light isn’t necessary.

Assembly Instructions:

Step 1.

Thoroughly wash the gravel and place in the bottom of the fish tank.

Step 2.

Drill 1/8” or 3/16” holes in the bottom of the grow bed every 2 square inches so the water can drain into the tank. In one of the back corners of the grow bed, drill a 1/2” hole for the tubing from the water pump to pass through.

Step 3.

Place the water pump in the fish tank then set the grow bed on top of the tank. Feed the tubing from the water pump through the 1/2” hole. Leave enough tubing to extend about 3/4 the height of the grow bed and to loop around the inside of the grow bed. Cut off any excess tube and fold the end over. Seal the folded piece with electrical tape.

Step 4.

Fill the grow bed with the growing medium to just under the top of the tube.

Step 5.

Puncture small holes every 2 inches in the section of tubing that loops in the grow bed.

Step 6.

Cover the loop of tubing with an inch or two of growing medium.

Step 7.

Fill the fish tank with water.

Plug in the pump to ensure that the water is pumped into the grow bed, trickles down through the growing medium and continuously back into the tank. Depending on the size of your tank, grow bed and pump, you may have to adjust to flow.

Step 8.

Connect you air pump to the air stone with the air tubing. Place the air stone in the tank and plug in the air pump. A steady stream of bubbles should rise through the water, providing fresh air

Step 9.

Check the pH of your water using litmus paper, a pH test kit or pH meter. Limtmus paper and inexpensive pH test kits are avilable in most hardware pool supply stores. The ideal pH is 7.0 for an aquaponic system. If it is higher than 7.2 you should lower it with a “pH down” product and if it is lower than 6.8 you should raise it with a “pH up” product, both of which are available from aquarium stores.

Step 10.

Allow the unit sit for 24 hours to be sure all chlorine has dissipated from the water. If you want to stock you fish right away, you’ll need to add a chlorine remover, which is available from aquarium shops and pet stores.

Step 11.

Add your fish to the fish tank. Initially, you should lightly stock your tank with no more than 1/2” of fish per gallon of water. Once your system has been established for over a month you can increase to fish density to 1” per gallon of water.

Step 12.

Ideally you should wait approximately 4 weeks to add plants to your system, but if you are eager to plant it, add just a few plants or seeds and increase plant density in a month or so when your system is well established.

Fish and Plant Selection

In selecting your fish, choose hardy species like goldfish, guppies, angelfish and other common varieties available from your local aquarium or pet store. Most desktop aquaponic gardens do not include food fish because there isn’t enough space to grow them to maturity. If you do want to raise food fish or a local species, be sure to provide adequate water temperature and feed.

A desktop aquaponic garden will support most varieties of house plants, lettuce, spinach and herbs. Ideally, you should start your plants from seed in a grow cube (also called jiffy cubes) or loose in the growing medium in your grow bed. Very small seed can be sprouted by placing them between two paper towels that are kept warm and most. You can also transplant plants from an existing hydroponic system with good results.

If you must transplant from soil, thoroughly wash away all of the dirt surrounding the roots and wash the leaves being sure to remove any pest insects.

You will have the most success with leafy vegetables like lettuce, spinach and herbs or houseplants such as anthodium, dracaena, dieffenbachia and philodendron.

You can also plant aquatic plants in the fish tank. They will provide a more natural habitat for the fish and aid in purifying the water.

Nitrification Cycle

Fish excrete ammonia in their wastes and through their gills. In sufficient quantities ammonia is toxic to plants and fish. Nitrifying bacteria, which naturally live in the soil, water and air, convert ammonia first to nitrite and then to nitrate. In your aquaponic system the nitrifying bacteria will thrive in the gravel in the fish tanks and in the growing medium in the grow bed. Nitrate is used by plants to grow and flourish. The plants readily uptake the nitrate in the water and in consuming it, keep the levels safe for the fish.

System Maintenance

The only daily input in this system is fish food. With any aquarium, frequent small feedings are better than fewer large feedings. Unless you have a really large tank, a pinch of food is all it takes. You should never feed more than the fish can completely consume in 5 minutes. Most tropical fish will be fine with a dry flake fish food but occasionally varying their diet with brine shrimp or blood worms will definitely keep them healthier and happier.

The water level in the tank will slowly decrease as some water is absorbed by the plants and some evaporates. Every few days you should refill the tank to the top. About once a month a 10 – 15% of the tank water should be siphoned out and replaced with fresh water.

Experiment Ideas

An aquaponic system is an excellent tool for experimentation and proving or disproving a hypothesis. Following are four theories and experiments that can be done to prove each.

Theory 1:

Although an aquaponics system will produce good plant growth, the hydroponic system with precisely measured nutrients will produce faster growing, higher quality plants.

Experiment 1:

Set up a hydroponic system and an aquaponic system. Monitor and document which one best supports plant growth.

Theory 2:

A healthy aquaponic system has ample nutrients for leafy crop growth, but fruiting plants will be lacking sufficient quantities of certain elements.

Experiment 2:

Plant a leafy crop such as lettuce and a fruiting crop such as tomatoes and monitor to see which one does best in aquaponics.

Theory 3:

A pH of 7.0 is the best for an aquaponic system. At a lower pH, nitrification slows down and the water quality will be reduced, stressing the fish, and at a higher pH the plants will be stressed.

Experiment 3:

Set up three aquaponic systems. Run each at a different pH, one at 6.0, one at 7.0 and one at 8.0. Observe and document the plant growth and fish health at varying pH levels.

Theory 4:

Denser fish populations will support more plant growth due to increased fish waste and nutrients in the water.

Experiment 4:

Set up two aquaponic systems, stock one with 1” of fish/gallon of water and the other with 1/2” of fish per gallon of water. Observe the difference in plant growth.

Sheet mulching, also called composting in place, sheet composting, and lasagna gardening, has many names and just as many variations.

But here’s the basic idea: instead of pulling out sod, tilling or digging the soil, and incorporating compost or manure to create a garden bed, sheet mulching builds the soil on top of what’s already there.

The process, then, is one of construction rather than disruption. And you need a little mental tweak to think like a sheet mulcher: instead of picturing what you need to remove from a certain spot of field or lawn to build a garden bed, you think about what you can pile on top of it that will smother the weeds and break down, over the course of some months, to build a rich, loose soil.

The process more closely mimics nature’s soil-building process – imagine a forest floor covered with leaves, rotting logs, decomposing plants, seeds, and animal scat.

Sheet mulching works with instead of against natural processes, and therefore might save effort, especially in the long-run. While sheet mulching does not bring instant gratification, given that a bed requires months of waiting until it is ready for planting, it certainly can satisfy a desire to treat the soil well.

Mulching builds soil over time, in contrast with the quick but short-term flood of nutrients brought to the surface through tilling.

Benefits and Challenges of Sheet Mulching

Mulching, popularized by Ruth Stout’s classic No-Work Garden Book, though easier than hand-tilling soil, is still quite a bit of work.

The materials required are also significant: to mulch 50 square feet with about a foot of material, you would need two cubic yards, or a pickup truck-full of mulch.

The good news is, to do the easiest kind of sheet composting, you need only the simplest of materials, and they are things that you probably already have, like newspaper and yard waste.

And there’s more good news: if you use a final two inch-thick mulch layer of weed and seed-free organic matter such as straw, fine bark, or wood shavings, your garden should have few weed problems. Mulching also keeps the soil moist and shaded – it’s good protection from the harsh summer sun for beneficial soil organisms like earthworms.

A sheet-mulched bed achieves a spongy consistency which is ideal for young roots seeking early passage through the soil toward nutrients and moisture.

To maintain the benefits of sheetmulching, gardeners should avoid stepping into the bed, which compacts the soil.

Permanent steps (made of pieces of wood or stone) can be placed throughout a garden bed in order to provide access for planting, weeding, watering, and harvest.

Preparing a No-Till Bed

To prepare a bed for spring planting next year, it’s best to begin in late summer.

To begin the sheet mulching process, first cut down the grass or weeds in the area you’d like to transform into a bed.

Lay the clippings down, then add a layer of newspaper at least ten pages thick and overlapped by at least six inches to smother the grass and weeds.

Weeds will come up wherever the newspaper does not adequately overlap. If the day is windy, wet the newspaper as it is laid to prevent it from blowing away.

The next step is where you might get a little creative. Because there is no one way to sheet mulch; you should use whatever organic materials are available to you. Thinking that the mulch has to be done in a very specific way might be a barrier to your trying it out, so use what you have or what you can easily get. Grass clippings, non-animal food scraps, unfinished compost, leaves, and yard waste are all great mulching materials.

You should keep a few simple rules in mind.

First, the combination of mulch layers should be a foot or two deep. (This layer will settle with the weight of winter snow) Shallower mulching won’t effectively smother sod or contribute to soil fertility.

Next, think about ways to keep the mulch from blowing away. You could top the bed with thickly matted straw or leaves. Also, you should avoid using woody material that won’t break down by springtime. A thin layer of wood shavings, for example, works fine, while wood chips take too long to decompose.

Finally, your carbon to nitrogen ratio should be about 30:1, the same as in any typical compost pile. A 30:1 carbon to nitrogen ratio for compost is ideal for both the rate of decomposition that it generates and the quality, texture, and nutrient content of the finished compost.

Carbon sources are those organic materials that are dry or woody and tend to be brown or dead. Great carbon sources for sheet mulching include dry leaves, straw, and newspaper.

Nitrogen sources are any “green” or wet, fresh material, including non-animal food scraps, animal manure, and green grass clippings. To give you an idea of what a 30:1 carbon to nitrogen ratio looks like, it’s roughly the C:N ratio found in animal bedding, which typically incorporates both hay and manure.

A three-inch layer of dry leaves topped by an inch of foods scraps also provides a 30:1 ratio.

A Recipe for Sheet Mulch

Here are more specific recommendations of layers you might add after the newspaper.

First, lay down four to six inches of grass clippings and leaves. If possible, shred the material to help prevent matting.

Next, broadcast or dust the leaves and clippings with a light layer of soil amendments such as lime, greensand, and rock dust. You might also layer comfrey and dandelion leaves here, as they are both bioaccumulators that concentrate nutrients from the soil in their leaves, and will release these nutrients back into the soil as they decompose. Because both dandelion and comfrey sprout easily from small sections of root, however, be sure to use only their leaves.

Finally, add a layer of animal bedding and top it with straw. Enjoy the winter as your new garden bed fertilizes and builds itself. In the spring, you should be able to plant starts directly into the mulch after brushing aside the straw. To sow seeds, you may have to add a thin layer of compost in order to achieve the best consistency for germination.

Creating a Path System

If you are considering adding paths around and within your garden they can be created at the same time as your new bed.

Paths not only provide access to your garden, but they also serve as a buffer zone that keeps the lawn from taking over the edge of the garden.

Paths need not be very wide. Two to three feet is generally enough for access with a wheelbarrow or garden cart. Paths will naturally widen with use, so err on the narrow side to start.

The same mulching techniques described above also work for paths, although path mulching only requires two layers. Rather than using newspaper to suppress weeds, try cardboard. Overlapped sheets of brown cardboard, with the staples and tape removed, will take longer than newspaper to decompose, keeping your paths weed-free for a longer period of time.

Remember to overlap the newspaper in the bed with the cardboard on the path or you will find the space between the two colonized by unwanted weeds. Lay a thick layer of bark mulch or wood chips on top of the cardboard to create a tidy, useful path.

Start Now

Instead of harboring regrets about what you might have done this summer, plan ahead for next year’s garden by sheet mulching now.

Planting your garden in the busy spring season will be less of a struggle, as your bed will have fewer weeds. Spring planting will be also be less weather dependent – you’ll be able to utilize the soil earlier during the wet spring than you would if you were using a rototiller. If nature takes its course, you’ll be enjoying the fruits of your labor at this time next year, and thinking about your next sheet-mulched garden expansion project.

The Calf Flooring project was revisited  in July 2009 to try and find a better solution for group housing calf flooring.

The term “Calf Mattress“  was coined to describe an attempt to get  away from slatted flooring  and to increase comfort.

First, the design of the top floor pattern was improved to be integrated with a support structure that manure would flow easily through.

Due to its high solubility, ammonia cannot be passed through water like many other gases. Ammonia is dissolved in water.

Method and device for scrubbing ammonia from air exhausted from animal rearing facilities.
Ammonia in the air exhausted from animal containment facilities may be removed by scrubbing the air with a solution of a suitable salt of an acidic proton donor such as alum. Ammonia may be removed from the air within any enclosed animal building which includes at least one air inlet and at least one outlet, a ventilation system having an air mover effective to draw fresh air into the building through the inlet and exhaust contaminated air through the outlet, and an air scrubber in communication with the outlet. Prior to exhausting the air into the environment, the air is passed through the scrubber where it is contacted with a solution of the salt of an acidic proton donor effective for flocculating ammonia therein. The flocculated ammonia may then be removed from the solution, which may then be recycled to the scrubber.

A Biotrickling Filter for Removing Ammonia and Odour in Ventilation Air from a Unit with Growing-Finishing Pigs

Abstract  – (full- article)

The results demonstrated that the filter significantly reduced the ammonia concentration (ppm) in the outlet air (P<0.05). Even though, the ammonia concentration before the filter ranged between 8.1 and 9.0 ppm during the winter period and 4.1 and 5.9 ppm during the summer period, the ammonia concentration after the filter was in the range of 1.2 to 2.4 ppm during the entire study. The filter significantly reduced the odour concentration (OUE/m3) in the outlet air (P<0.05). However, there were large variations in the odour removal efficiency, which ranged from an average of 54 % during the winter period and 28 % during the summer period. A possible explanation for the reduced odour removal efficiency during the summer was the increased ventilation rate, which reduced the retention time of the outlet air in the filter. It was observed that some areas on the filter were clogged up with dust and biofilm and this may also have impaired the odour removal. In conclusion, the filter was able to reduce the ammonia and odour concentrations in the outlet air from a unit with growing-finishing pigs. However, it is required to improve the odour removal efficiency and to find methods to increase the retention time and prevent the clogging with dust and biofilm.

The ventilation system was based on the principle of negative pressure ventilation. Fresh air entered the unit through a diffuse inlet in the ceiling. The outlet air was sucked out from the slurry channels and into ventilation channels under the solid floor in each side of the unit. The ventilation channels were connected to the filter rooms. The ventilation fan was placed on the clean side of the filter and the outlet air was drawn through the filter. The filter was composed by two vertical cellulose pads, which were continuously humidified with water. As the outlet air passed through the cellulose pads dust, ammonia and odour compounds in the air stream were degraded and metabolized by the biofilm on the pads.

This was the flooring profile invented in 2000 at Grober after many experiments, for use with calves housed inside.

The profile is such for maximum foot support, but at the same time allowing calf excreted products to not block the spaces.

The  8 X4 sheet shown here is made of totally recycled materials that are extruded to make “polyboard”. The holes are then laser cut using the profile in the photo.

The sub flooring was also made of  recyled materials, basically 8 foot 2X4′s running across. These were then laid on piers also made of 2X4′s  running the length of the barn.

Various protypes were tested and finally this product was installed in  a new  Grober group housing barn built in 2000 with 1000 calves penned into 16 rooms.

There some problems due to mistakes made in floor assembly that have caused various problems and the perfect flooring is still in developement.

 

 

Polyboard outmatches any other panel material, such as plywood, gypsum, MDF, OSB, hardboards and particle boards in all applications – Indoors, outdoors, underground and underwater!

* FULLY RECYCLABLE

It is 100% environmentally-friendly. No waste!

* TOUGHER THAN WOOD

It is 12 times tougher than wood and plywood.

* MORE USEFUL THAN WOOD

It is versatile: from roofing to sub-flooring – sheathing, siding, walling, partitioning, ceiling, skirting, decking, doors, flooring underlay, hoarding, fencing, road-signs, skate board ramp, bus/truck/railcar/container-flooring and lining, pallets and more.

The Aim:

• to build a low cost vertical garden using as much recycled material as possible.
• to use this information to build something nice indoors for the winter months.
• to make watering and nutrient feeding as automated as possible.
• to make something in the final phase that is visibly attractive, low maintenance, low cost and satisfying in what it can produce either vegetables or just greenery with flowers.

This is a first prototype  of a vertical garden, built with recycled materials. All the wood  and the 2 litre pop bottles were  found at our community garbage.

I choose to use soil rather than a hydroponic medium for this preliminary experiment.

The labels are removed from the pop bottles ( used some green and some clear plastic bottles) and then cut  in half using first a knife to make the first hole and then scissors to get an easy straight cut.

To fasten bottles to wood, it is easiset to start at the bottom and work upwards. I used a 5 inch gap between each horizontal wood strip, so that each bottle would drain into the one below.

I fastened the bottle using one short screw per bottle ( the only non-cycled piece) This was done for convenience as this is a prototype and wanted to be able to move or adjust bottles.

At the bottom of each bottle, I put a large stone to partially block the bottle top hole and then add a few bits of gravel.

The soil used was a good soil mix with vermiculite .

Tried all kinds of seed s to see what would work best. Lettuce, Spinach, Parsley, hot pepper and some other herbs.

Experiment in progress …..

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http://www.livingwallart.com/category/do-it-yourself/ Great Link for Do it yourself Ideas for living walls

Building a Successful Community Allotment

Growing Your Own Vegetables – Reconnecting to nature, by learning to grow at least some of the fruit, vegetables and herbs that we eat, sharing resources and developing a sense of community. It is about attempting to find an organic way of life, rather than simply applying organic techniques to growing fruit and vegetables.

Even though there is a return to “growing your own” vegetables due to the increased interest in “Going Green”, concern about food source, economic times etc. there is still a problem in applying this in a practical way.

For example in England where there is a waiting list of over 100,000 people waiting for for allotments to grow vegetables, a considerable percentage of allotments already rented by people are either overgrown, underused or badly kept.

There are a number of possible reasons for this:

• the plots are too big
• loss of skills
• a lack of community experience at the allotments
• the wrong people holding onto them.

The main aim of the scheme is to help those who are interested, but who have little or no experience in growing vegetables. To grow organically, with minimum till of the land

The farmland in question is extremely stoney, so basically the most effective low cost solution is “no till” and to add topsoil, mulch, compost on top.

Basic Plot size – 20 feet (6m) x 4 feet (1.2 m)

• Why so small? Small enough to be manageable – a person can always be assigned more plots if they a manage one plot well, or well as need and experience.
• Why 4 feet wide? Maximum width you can easily manage from one side with a hoe. Room is left for a narrow path between each plot.

Cost – Charge per plot includes:

• tools, hoe, rakes etc.
• Water supply
• Seed, seedlings
• Digest/Manure from farm
• Mulch/Compost from farm
• Hands on practical help and advice

Participants

• Growers
• Volunteers – help maintain lots, pathways, composting toilet, picnic area, greenhouses, parking lot and composting site.
• Surplus product sold to produce funds for community to develop further.

To maintain a well maitained community allotment, mostly

PYO scheme helps people to see how the fruit, vegetables and herbs they eat are grown, and get a regular supply of locally grown fresh produce straight from the land. It also helps raise funds by turning surplus produce into cash.

Why do you go to the effort of preparing ground, sowing seeds, caring for the plants, protecting them from pests and diseases and harvesting and storing them when you can pop along to your local supermarket and buy fresh vegetables for not very much money? The stock responses are not usually very convincing – ‘well, I enjoy it’, I might mumble, or ‘it isn’t that much work’.

In truth there isn’t a single reason, but a whole combination of benefits and positives which make the thought of not growing fruit and vegetables difficult to contemplate.

Flavour – Have you ever tasted really fresh peas, popped into your mouth a matter of seconds after picking? It’s one of the greatest food pleasures, and one which no supermarket on earth can compete with. The sugar in peas starts to convert to starch the moment they are picked, explaining why they are so much sweeter straight from the plant. So, our first reason is that we can grow tastier vegetables than we can buy in the store.

Variety – Supermarkets naturally have to cater for the masses, and so stock the most popular and reliable varieties of fruit and vegetables. By growing your own veg you are freed from the mainstream and are able to select and grow varieties renowned for taste rather than uniformity. I can’t ever see my local Supermarket stocking the nobbly, low yield Pink Fir Apple potato, yet they have the most sublime flavour of any early spud I’ve ever experienced.

Money – Organic vegetables are more expensive to buy than those produced using herbicides and pesticides. You might save money by growing your own. If you factor in your time you are unlikely to do so, but your time is your own and your bank won’t mind if you fritter it away on growing food. If you have the space and motivation to grow in large quantities saving money is easier . Growing organically is certainly cheaper than growing with chemicals!

Provenance – A fancy word for knowing where it comes from and how it was produced. We know that the vegetables we grow are free from harmful chemicals, and that they haven’t exploited anyone’s labour in their production. You just can’t say that about most vegetables you buy in a supermarket. You may be able to wash away chemical residues from the outside of vegetables produced using today’s herbicides and pesticides, but you can’t do anything about the residues inside them.

Fun – It can be great fun to grow vegetables, especially if you’ve got someone to share it with. Kids will delight in the sprouting of growth from seeds, and the transformation from seedling to crop. And it can be educational too.

The Environment – Next time you’re browsing the shelves in the produce section of your local supermarket have a closer look at the origin labels. Chances are that some of the produce will be local, but it’s a certainty that most will have come from further afield. The key here is the concept of Food Miles – if your food is better travelled than you are, there is something wrong with the world. The supermarkets will tell you they are merely responding to consumer pressure and offering choice.

Exercise – Several studies have shown that gardening for one hour can burn upwards of 400 calories. Try that out at the gym! Gardening involves walking, stretching, lifting and bending. Gardening can build muscle as well as give a good cardio and aerobic workout.

Mental health - There is nothing more relaxing than a beautiful and bountiful garden. The activity of working the garden can be immensely calming while the splendor you have created can lift the spirit. A vegetable garden can also lend a more spiritual link to life itself. Not only are you participating in the miracle of growth and the changing of the seasons, you will also become intimately linked to the process of nurturing your own life.

Learn - The more you know, the more you want to know. While fun, gardening can also be quite challenging. Insects or diseases in your plants will drive you to find out how to keep your garden healthy. Research on wind and sun patterns, growing conditions, suitable plants and vegetables you’ve never even heard of will drive you to fill your head with new knowledge. Garden centers offer classes and seminars and Universities often offer advanced gardening or horticulture degrees.

Satisfaction – Growing your own vegetables can be tremendously satisfying. Every time you sit down to a meal that features something you’ve grown yourself, you will feel a sense of something approaching pride – you grew that carrot, you did.