Growing your own food is amazing. It’s super nutritious, means no food miles or packaging waste, connects us with nature, builds soil health – there are sooooo many upsides.
But… if you’re anything like me, maybe you’re a bit hit and miss on the gardening front, or maybe you’re just not quite sure where to start. Let me tell you all about my benchtop gardening adventure!
Benchtop gardening has been a breakthrough for me. It turns out there are heaps of things we can get growing right on our kitchen bench. I love that everything is right at my fingertips and it keeps things at a scale that I can manage even when I’m super time poor.
There really is a whole world of options out there when it comes to growing food on your benchtop, but here are some of my favourites.
Microgreens
Not only are these little guys super cute and easy to grow, but they are punching way above their weight when it comes to nutrition. I also love that they have the ability to make even the simplest meal look so much fancier.
There is an impressive range of seed varieties available, but I’ve had lots of luck with chia, mustard and radish. I love reusing things to grow them in and have even rescued cartons and disposable coffee cups destined for landfill.
Mushrooms
If you’re a fungi lover, then you should immerse yourself in the world of mushroom growing kits. I have been getting into oyster mushrooms, and my mind has been blown by how damn impressive they are and how quickly they grow. There are lots of kit options around and they also make a very cool gift idea.
Offcuts
If you have the base of a bunch of celery, bok choy or a lettuce you can get growing! Those ends that often don’t get eaten can be used to grow a whole new vegetable – how cool is that?!? You just cut off the base so that you have a piece around 2-3cms long, pop it in 1cm of water and once it develops roots you can plant it in a pot.
Rainbow salad
I love having some salad greens that I can easily reach for when I’m preparing meals. I’ve got into the habit of planting some in pots and then placing them in a decorative basket, box or bowl to make them benchtop pretty. I also like to add a few herbs for flavour and some edible flowers for a pop of colour. An added bonus is that they are slug and snail free!
Wherever you are at on your food growing journey, gardening on your kitchen bench is such an easy and rewarding thing to do. You’ll be amazed at how easy it is to ‘fill your sills’ with goodness – let the benchtop gardening adventures begin.
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