Importance of backyard gardening

Fresh tomato

Farming is a work that everyone in one way or another other has to do to support the economy of his or her respective country. Can you imagine how our country will be if every household can create a backyard garden? Farming is not always as hard to do as some people perceive it to be but the bottom line is getting the right knowledge about what goes into it.

My father taught Agriculture in college and my mother even though a seamstress loves to farm a lot. She plants, maize, cassava, groundnuts, beans, and okra among others. Having both parents of mine having something to do with farming, I grew up at an early age with a love for farming. Back in my basic school days, I planted maize and when it grew we cooked it fresh and roasted some and from that time going I told myself not to forsake this noble work. I planted tomatoes and pepper in my backyard garden and as I got a good yield, I even sold some and so we also had a relief because the family didn't have to purchase pepper and tomato for our use at home again. Practicing backyard gardening as a parent and also engaging your wards will make these young ones responsible as they will have to care for the crops so that they do well. 

Now, this article focuses on four reasons why you need to start the practice of backyard gardening now.

• SAVES YOU MONEY - If you've got tomato, pepper, onion, carrots, okra, and some leafy vegetables in your farm, will the money be spent on these again? A worker who is not into industrial farming but engages in backyard farming and rearing of animals like fowl is likely to live a debt-free life and his saving ability will be high. It all commences with the little steps before the attainment of a wealthy or good living.

• CHEMICAL-FREE FOOD CONSUMPTION - We are all now at risk of getting some health complications and failures due to the foods we eat today that are full of chemicals. It is obvious that the foodstuffs in our markets are mainly produced inorganically and some of these chemicals do not get used up before harvesting which ends up entering the foods we consume. Do you know that food in itself is a medicine if it is chemical free or produced organically? Everyone wants to live a long life but it begins with everything we do and the kind of foods we consume also constitute a greater percentage of achieving this aim.

• pepper

• SELF-SUFFICIENCY - Sometimes you will agree with me that you can go to market and the foodstuffs you find just cost some dollars that you feel is above the maximum threshold but you've got to buy because you need it. Meanwhile, those crops can be farmed right in your backyard. Why not be self sufficiently-sufficient and even contribute to national development rather than contributing to "Demand being higher than supply"  which explicitly impacts inflation?

Pawpaw fruit can be a great source of vitamins for body-building.

• FARMING AS A THERAPY - Once you are farming, you are even engaging in some kind of exercise and also offering a form of relaxation to the mind. The joy I have any time I visit my farm and look at my crops is an unusual feeling that I can stay with my crops for so long because I get excited in my mind.
  

The feeling is so high that even when reading whether in books or online and I come across images of crops, the feeling is just awesome and the eagerness for more is uncontrollably daunting.