Is it worth trying to grow fruit trees and shrubs on your own plot or in your home garden? If you have such a dilemma, reading the following text will dispel your doubts. If you have been planning to establish a small orchard in your garden for a long time, but it has not happened so far and your orchard has remained just a good idea, this text will finally motivate you to act! Here are 4 important reasonswhy you should plant fruit trees
Self-grown he althy and chemical-free fruit,
is a good reason to plant fruit trees
1. Fruits from their own plot are he althier
By growing fruit trees and shrubs yourself, you can get much he althier fruit than you buy in stores. This is due to two factors.
First of all - in commercial crops, fungicides and pesticides that are harmful to our environment and to ourselves are used to combat diseases and pests of fruit plants. This is necessary because a large number of fruit trees or shrubs of the same species planted in a small area favor the development of their diseases and pests. In some production apple orchards, against only one apple disease - scab, as many as a dozen sprays are performed annually!
Why are so many chemical plant protection products used in orchard production, although it has an impact on our he alth? Well… For a producer, the most important thing is profit. In order to earn money, it must obtain a large yield and the fruit must look nice.Then he will get a good price for it. After all, when shopping, you also judge the fruit by its appearance. However, you cannot check whether these fruits are he althy and rich in nutrients …
Here is how Lidia Aleksandra Szadkowska, the author of the e-book Kuchnia Veganki (a publication devoted to a he althy diet based on plant ingredients) looks at this problem:
The main concern of each manufacturer is to sell his product in the best possible way. On the other hand, he cares less about the he alth of the consumer. Business matters. He advertises his goods using any tricks to convince the customer of the benefits of the purchase. And we often succumb to this suggestion.
Many of us are also convinced that what the food industry offers us must be he althy, otherwise it would not be on the shelves of the store. Is it really so?
One thing is certain - when you grow fruit plants yourself, you decide when and how many plant protection products to use, and therefore what the fruit you eat will be.You can reduce the need to use chemicals by properly caring for the cultivated plants, selecting species and varieties resistant or tolerant to the most common diseases for growing, and using natural plant protection products, based mainly on plant decoctions and extracts.
Another factor that reduces the nutritional value of commercially available fruits is very intensive use of the soil and inadequate fertilization. This problem was pointed out by Krzysztof Abramek, the author of the e-book Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements, who describes it as follows:
" If only 3 components (NPK) are supplied to the ground, and plants extract several dozen from it as they grow, they begin to lack them. It is estimated that the soil in Poland yielded approximately 1,200 times and that when it was cultivated using natural methods, the balance of minerals was maintained - after the introduction of artificial fertilization, the soil was sterilized. "
As a result of such cultivation, we obtain fruits that are much poorer in nutrients - vitamins and minerals.But by growing fruit plants in your own garden, you can remedy this by using natural methods of soil cultivation. You can provide the soil with all the nutrients you need by applying organic fertilizers (plant debris compost and manure) and by planting green manure. It does not pay off in production crops. But it will pay off for you - thanks to this, you will receive he althier food for you and your family, and your he alth is priceless! This is undoubtedly the most important reasonwhy you should plant fruit treesin your own garden.
2. Fruits from their own plot are tastier
I had the opportunity to find out about it again this summer, when I tried strawberries from my mother's backyard. Fresh fruit, picked straight from the bush, was delicious and had no taste in the taste of those bought in stores.
How it's possible? For the same reasons that fruits lose their nutritional value.The loss of vitamins and minerals goes hand in hand with the loss of good taste. In addition, fruit of many species, intended for sale, are usually harvested before they are ripe. If harvested at full maturity, they would not have survived in transit and would have been destroyed before they reached the store shelves. Thus, the fruit ripens in warehouses and on store shelves. But during this time, they no longer get the nutrients from the plant. They become soft and take on the so-called food maturity but do they take on flavor? I don't think …
"If you want to taste real apples and pears, be sure to try growing these fruit trees yourself. Then you will see what they taste like right after you pick them from the tree. This unique taste is another reasonwhy it is worth planting fruit treesOf course, choose the fruit you like to grow. "
3. Fruit from your own plot is cheaper
" Do you think that fruit in stores is getting more and more expensive every year? Already in 2004, the editors of Działkowiec (special issue: Owocowy Ogród) drew attention to this problem.At that time, fruit prices were expected to rise after our accession to the European Union. In the &39;old&39; EU countries, fruit was much more expensive than in Poland and it was clear that fruit prices on our market would grow towards a level comparable to those in other EU countries. "
By growing fruit trees and shrubs, you can get fruit much cheaper (though not always). This is due to, inter alia, from the possibility of limiting the use of expensive chemical pesticides, which are used in large quantities in production crops. You can also save on fertilizers by enriching the soil primarily with compost obtained from plant residues from your own plot. Hence, such cultivation may be 'self-sustaining' to some extent. The opportunity to make significant savings is therefore another important reasonwhy plant fruit trees
4. Satisfaction guaranteed - priceless!
At the end, you can think about the most enjoyable one. In order to get your own crops, you need to put in a lot of work, look after trees and shrubs all year round, and perform all maintenance work.But how much satisfaction will it give you the opportunity to taste tasty and he althy fruit from your own cultivation!
Hope you now have no doubts that it is worth growing fruit trees and shrubs yourself in your own garden. So … let's go! In the remaining articles in our guide, you will find tips on how to set up your own orchard on a plot of land and how to grow trees and shrubs to get the delicious fruit you want. I wish you successful cultivation and … tasty!
