How to enjoy healthy homegrown vegetables, all year long
I remember building my first-ever garden like it was yesterday.
Charlene and I spent days collecting load after load of free horse manure mixed with bedding from a local stable.
We built many piles and followed the 18-day hot composting system to turn them into high-quality compost.
After about three weeks we had enough compost for a decent-sized garden.
It felt like the start of something great.
Since we didn’t have a setup for starting our own seedlings, we bought them from a local organic farmer and started growing our first veggies.
It was perfect.
We were growing our own food!
(And a bunch of weeds!)
Until fall rolled around.
The garden started producing less and less, and by winter, we had nothing growing and nothing to consume from our own garden.
We had to go back to buying expensive veggies at the local market.
But that’s not what we wanted.
We’ve had a taste of our own homegrown veggies, and we wanted to have this for most of the year.
At least a decent amount of it.
Unfortunately, we had no clue where to begin.
Once upon a time, I used to think that vegetable gardening was a seasonal hobby.
I'd plant my tomatoes and peppers in the spring, harvest them in the summer, and then wait until the next year to start all over again.
Most people who start a garden will experience the same.
In the beginning, you get excited, create a few beds, grow a bit of everything, and before you know it, winter arrives, and you’re back to relying on grocery stores for produce that often doesn’t measure up.
But how can you keep a steady supply of nutrient-dense, homegrown vegetables throughout the year?
When I finally learned this, it changed my life (and my plate) forever.
And in this article, I’ll guide you through the four essential steps to get started.
Even if you live in an area with a short growing season, only have a small garden, and have a busy schedule.
But first…
The benefits of enjoying healthy, homegrown vegetables all year long
Let’s first talk a little bit about the incredible opportunity that having your own homegrown vegetables year-round can bring to your life.
Growing your own vegetables isn’t just about the food that’s on your plate, right?
At least for me, it's about changing your way of life and enjoying many benefits that go way beyond just growing food.
First off, growing your own vegetables can transform your life in so many ways.
Imagine stepping outside of your home to pick fresh vegetables from your garden throughout the year.
It’s difficult to put into words what it feels like to be able to grow your own food and provide this to your family.
1. Self-sufficiency and Food security
One of the most significant benefits of growing your own vegetables is achieving a certain level of self-sufficiency.
Now, we don’t have to be entirely self-sufficient (although that would be nice), but even just producing a small amount of your own food can make a huge difference.
It gives you a great feeling of stability and satisfaction.
By growing your own food, you reduce your dependence on grocery stores and external food supplies.
This means you have much more control over what you eat and a certain sense of security knowing you can provide for your family, no matter what happens in the world.
2. Health and Nutrition
Homegrown vegetables are packed with nutrients, often fresher and more nutritious than store-bought produce.
When you grow your own food, you ensure that you and your family are eating healthy, chemical-free vegetables.
Plus, the physical activity involved in gardening contributes to a healthier lifestyle.
It’s a win-win for your body and your plate.
3. Financial savings
Another great benefit is the financial savings.
Once your garden is established, the cost of maintaining it is relatively low compared to the continuous expense of buying vegetables from the store.
Over time, you’ll notice significant savings on your grocery bills.
It’s amazing how much you can save by growing your own food.
4. Quality of life
There’s something deeply satisfying about growing your own food.
It connects you to nature and provides a sense of accomplishment and peace.
Gardening can be a therapeutic activity that improves mental well-being and provides a productive way to spend your free time.
Of course, you’ll enjoy your own homegrown food, but the process to get there is equally satisfying.
5. Educational and Family opportunities
Gardening is also an excellent way to teach children about nature, responsibility, and the value of hard work.
It’s an educational activity that the whole family can participate in.
When my wife and I are working together with our kids in the garden, it creates amazing bonding opportunities and provides them with life lessons that are invaluable.
Watching plants grow and learning to care for them is a powerful and highly rewarding experience for both ourselves and our kids.
As you can imagine, growing food has a huge amount of benefits.
What often starts as a side hobby can quickly improve your lifestyle, increase your health, and bring greater satisfaction and security to your life.
And now that we’ve covered some of the incredible benefits of growing your own food you might be wondering how to make this a reality in your own garden.
The good news is that it’s easier than you might think.
With a bit of planning and a few simple steps, you can enjoy a steady supply of fresh, homegrown veggies all year round.
Let’s dive into the four essential steps to get you started on your journey to year-round gardening success.
Step 1: Start a garden
Of course, the first step involves the actual creation of a garden.
If you already have a garden set up, you can skip to step 2.
If you haven’t yet started your garden, keep reading.
When it comes to starting a garden, there are 1001 ways to get started.
From container gardening to balcony gardening and from raised garden beds to in-ground beds, there are options enough to choose from.
Which also makes making the decision a little more complicated.
Should you start with raised beds or in-ground beds?
Should you create ten garden beds or only one?
Should you go with the no-dig method or follow a more traditional tilling method?
To help with this, I’ve previously written two articles:
They can help clarify a lot of the questions you might be asking yourself.
When it comes to gardening, there are no real wrong or right ways to go about it.
There’s only using the wrong strategies for your specific needs.
At the end of the day, no matter what method or approach you take, there are a couple of things to consider:
1. Goals
The first step in starting your garden is to define your goals.
Ask yourself: “What do I want to achieve with my garden?”
Do you want to grow just a few of your own vegetables?
Or do you want to try and become as self-sufficient as possible?
If you only have a little bit of space and you just want to enjoy gardening and grow a bit of your own food, installing a couple of raised garden beds might be perfect.
But if you’re dreaming of self-sufficiency, you’ll need a bigger space and a bit more planning, and you might want to choose more traditional market garden blocks that consist of multiple beds per plot.
Understanding your goals will guide your decisions on the size, type, and layout of your garden.
Your goals will also help you determine the kinds of plants you want to grow and how much produce you aim to harvest.
2. Space
Next, evaluate the space you have available for your garden.
Whether you have a small balcony, a backyard, or a larger piece of land, the amount of space will influence your garden’s design and scale.
If you have limited space, consider vertical gardening or container gardening.
For larger spaces, you can plan for multiple garden beds and even add a small food forest.
Plan your garden layout to maximize the use of space, including pathways and bed dimensions.
3. Budget
Budgeting is another important consideration of starting a garden.
How much are you willing to spend initially and for ongoing maintenance?
Initial costs may include equipment, tools, and infrastructure like seedling trays, raised beds, or fencing.
Ongoing costs can include water, compost, and seeds.
At the end of the day, when it comes to gardening and growing food, you can make it as crazy or simple as you want.
When we first started gardening, other than paying for some seeds and seedlings, we pretty much started it for free.
We collected many free pallets to build a simple fence.
We collected free horse manure to create our own compost.
Compare that to the time we started a market garden where we bought compost by the ton and invested heavily in greenhouses and other infrastructure and equipment.
Knowing what you want to invest in and what budget you’re working with, will help you make the right choices and avoid overspending.
4. Location
Choosing the right location for your garden is the next important consideration.
Finding the right spot can make a huge difference in how well your plants grow.
Generally speaking, most vegetables need at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight each day.
Therefore, a sunny location is essential for healthy, productive plants.
You’ll also want to make sure the location is convenient and accessible.
You’ll be visiting your garden often to water, weed, and harvest, so it’s best if it’s easy to reach.
Imagine you install your garden at the end of your property.
Going back and forth all the time isn’t exactly practical or efficient.
In reality, it makes the whole gardening experience a lot more of a chore than it has to be.
This is where the Permaculture zoning principle comes into play.
To not fall into the trap of repeating myself, you can read an entire article about it here.
Following the permaculture zoning principle, a garden should be close to your home.
This proximity makes your life a lot easier.
5. Time & Commitment
Finally, let’s talk about the time and commitment you can realistically dedicate to your garden.
Whether we like it or not, gardening requires regular maintenance, and it's important to be honest with yourself about how much time you can commit each week.
Each task, as relaxing and enjoyable as it might be, takes time.
If you have a busy schedule, it’s probably best to start with a smaller garden that’s easier to manage.
You can always expand later as you get more comfortable, install efficient systems, and find more time.
The same goes for thinking about the seasonal tasks of gardening.
Each season brings different tasks, and knowing what to expect can help you plan better.
For example, in spring you’ll be busy with planting, while fall will involve a lot of harvesting and prepping beds for the colder months and the next season.
Making sure you have enough time for your garden will give you better results and make the whole experience more enjoyable.
It’s incredibly rewarding to see the fruits (and veggies) of your labor, but it’s also important not to overwhelm yourself.
By being realistic about the time you can dedicate, you’ll find gardening to be a fulfilling and stress-free activity.
Step 2: Create a simple crop plan
With your garden in place, you now need to create a crop plan.
If there is one skill that is going to dramatically increase your production, organization, clarity, and confidence in your gardening efforts, it’s creating a crop plan.
Nothing else comes even close.
Many people struggle with not knowing when to start their plants, where to plant them, how often to sow them, and when to expect their harvest.
It can feel overwhelming and confusing.
The good news is, there’s a straightforward solution to all of this: a simple crop plan and crop calendar.
A crop plan helps you organize and schedule your planting activities throughout the year.
With a plan in place, you’ll know exactly when to start your seeds, where to plant them, how often to sow new crops, and when you can expect to harvest.
It takes the guesswork out of gardening and helps you stay on track.
A well-thought-out crop plan also makes sure that you’re making the best use of your garden space and resources.
It doesn’t matter whether you have a single raised garden bed or run a 2-acre (8000m2) market garden, you can quite literally double or even triple the amount of food you can grow in the same space with a well-thought-out plan.
The reason for this is that it allows you to stagger your plantings so that you have a continuous supply of fresh produce rather than everything ripening all at once.
Once you’ve grown and harvested a rotation, rather than having empty garden spaces for months of the growing season, you’ll be ready with new seeds or seedlings you can transplant immediately.
This way, you’ll never have empty spaces in your garden.
I would even go as far as to say that the crop plan has single-handedly allowed us to go from inconsistent harvests to making a living growing vegetables.
It’s that important.
It will help you manage your time more effectively.
You can plan your gardening tasks week by week, making sure you don’t end up with too much to do all at once.
And this makes the whole process much more efficient and less stressful.
Creating a crop plan might sound complicated, but it doesn’t have to be.
I’ll be diving deeper into how to create an effective crop plan in a separate, in-depth article which I’ll post next week.
This is what a part of the crop plan looks like:
For now, just know that having a crop plan is a must if you want to enjoy as much food from your garden as possible.
It simplifies your gardening process and makes it much more manageable, allowing you to enjoy a steady flow of homegrown veggies throughout the year.
So, before you get your hands dirty, make sure to keep an eye out to next weeks article.
In that article, I’ll show you exactly my universal framework on how you can create a crop plan that is based on your personal food preferences, your unique climate, and your garden size.
You’ll be glad you did when your garden is thriving, and you have a consistent harvest of fresh produce.
Step 3: Grow your vegetables
This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for.
After doing all the legwork, you’ve built your garden and created a crop plan that is specific to what you want to grow, your climate, and your garden size, it’s finally time to grow your vegetables.
I still remember to this day the first seeds we sowed and the first seedlings we transplanted and the beautiful bounty of healthy crops at the end of their cycle.
Honestly, there’s nearly nothing more rewarding than experiencing growing your plants from seeds into nutrient-dense food.
This is what gardening is all about.
Being able to provide you and your family with the food that you’ve grown really gives a great feeling of accomplishment, security, and purpose.
If you’ve grown food before, you know what I mean.
But although growing and harvesting your own food is one of the most rewarding things in gardening, it does come with a set of challenges.
Every plant is grown differently, and many require different growing conditions.
What works for me in my garden, doesn’t necessarily have to work for you in your garden.
With just a slight variation in climatic conditions, everything can change.
Having said that, annual vegetable crops are surprisingly tough plants and basically grow themselves.
Your only task is to give them the best possible growing conditions.
And most of that starts with the soil.
Initially, it might make you a bit nervous (and excited!), but there’s nothing to be afraid of.
Growing those first plants is an important first step that is going to give you the knowledge and confidence you’ll need to have year-round food abundance for you and your family.
And to grow your plants, there are two main methods:
You can start seedlings in the nursery to grow transplants (or buy them at a local nursery or farm).
And you can directly sow seeds in the ground.
Both methods require a different approach, and each vegetable has their preference.
For example, carrots and radishes are both plants that will require to be sown directly in the ground.
Whereas plants like tomatoes and cucumbers will benefit of being started in seedling trays or pots.
The transplanted vegetables in our garden all get started in a dedicated nursery (a windowsill works fine too).
Here we can ensure that the needs of the small seedlings are met and they're able to grow into strong and healthy transplants.
For this process, we use simple nursery trays.
These trays come in many different sizes and dimensions to suit the needs of the specific plants that are grown in it.
To grow in trays, you’ll need to use a high-quality potting mix.
These come in every imaginable mix, but most contain a combination of peat, compost, vermicompost, perlite, and some fertilizers.
This is usually available at nearly every garden center.
Filling up the trays is pretty straightforward but will require a couple of steps you need to know to grow healthy transplants.
Before you start filling up your tray, you want to make sure to moisten the medium a bit.
You can’t make it too wet, but it can’t be too dry either.
The best is to perform a squeeze test to make sure that the mix contains just the right amount of moisture.
To do this we grab a handful of potting mix and squeeze it.
When squeezing, the mix should only release a couple of drops of water.
If you squeeze and there’s no water coming out, it’s too dry.
If it’s leaking a lot of water, it’s too wet.
That’s all there is to the squeeze test and making sure the soil contains just the right amount of water.
After that, simply fill up your trays all the way, compact it slightly, sow your seeds, and cover them with a thin layer of potting soil.
Give it one last good watering and your seeds are of to the races.
As your seeds are germinating and growing into beautiful little baby plants, water them regularly until they are strong enough to be planted outside.
To ensure you don’t overwater them, we let the soil dry out between each watering, before applying water again.
Too much water at this stage will cause something that’s called ‘damping off’.
Damping off is caused by wet and cold conditions and will allow fungi to proliferate and kill your tender seedlings.
Once the seedlings have grown into a good size, it’s time to transplant them outside into your growing beds.
At this time, we make sure to harden off the transplants (letting them get used to outdoor conditions; cold, wind, rain, etc.) to prevent a transplanting shock.
Just before we transplant them into their final location, we make sure the beds are prepared and are ready to receive the seedlings.
Depending on the time of the year, this means that we either broadfork the beds, apply compost, and mark out the ideal spacing needed for the crops.
Once we’ve transplanted the crop, we ensure that they’re irrigated and kept moist until they’ve settled in and are taking off.
From there on out it’s simply ensuring regular watering until it’s time to harvest the mature abundance.
Direct seeding vegetables is a much easier process that takes up a lot less time.
Personally, since we ran an organic vegetable farm, we use a precision seeder for this purpose.
But at home, this can easily be done by hand.
The steps we take to direct seed a bed are pretty straightforward.
We make sure the bed is prepared and amended, and we simply seed the bed.
When direct seeding vegetables it’s important to not plant the seeds too deep.
A general rule of thumb is to sow the seeds twice as deep as the size of the seed itself.
After that, simply cover the seeds with a bit of soil, slightly compress it so that the seeds have good soil-to-seed contact, and water them in.
Every plant is different and they all require to be planted at a different spacing.
As you’re sowing your seeds, you want to make sure that there is enough space between each seed that will allow them grow into mature plants without overcrowding each other.
From there on out, simply water them regularly and keep an eye out on weeds until it’s time to harvest them.
And that’s the whole process in a nutshell.
If you follow the right approach and strategies, you’ll notice that growing your own food doesn’t have to be too difficult.
As I always like to say, vegetables are pretty much growing themselves.
With a seed, some soil, water, and sunlight, you have all the ingredients to let the magic happen and grow an abundance of food at home.
And once you’ve grown your plants to a mature size, it’s time to enjoy your harvest, and process them so you can too enjoy a year-round abundance of homegrown food.
Step 4: Preserve the harvest
Once you’re growing your vegetables, you’ll inevitably have excess, and if you’ve planned correctly, this is by design.
With all the extra’s coming from your garden, you need to preserve it so you can enjoy it year-round.
The goal of this article is to give you a bird's-eye view of what it takes to have homegrown food all year round.
But the reality is, in many climates, we can't grow vegetables outdoors all year.
That’s why, if we want to have food from the garden in the colder months, we need to process and preserve our harvests during the abundant growing seasons.
In France, our growing season used to be from April to November.
Now, in Portugal, with careful planning and a couple of season extension strategies, we can grow year-round.
Having said that, we’re very limited with what we can grow in the darker and colder winter months.
Therefore, by processing the food we grow during the summer months, we are able to have nutrient-dense stored food for the colder months.
That’s how we enjoy homegrown food year-round.
There are many ways to process and preserve food from the garden.
Some of the easiest methods are canning, fermenting, and drying.
When it comes to preserving food, we aim to retain as much of the nutrient content in the vegetables as possible.
Even better, what if we could increase the nutrients and benefits of stored foods? The best way to do this is through lacto-fermentation.
We’ve used lacto-fermentation successfully for various vegetables, including carrots, radishes, beetroots, cabbages, kohlrabi, turnips, cucumbers, and many others.
Lacto-fermenting your vegetables is one of the best ways to preserve and store your food.
It not only keeps your harvests in great condition, but it also increases their nutritional value.
During fermentation, microorganisms generate probiotics and prebiotics, which are incredibly healthy for you.
Plus, all you need is salt and water.
No need to spend hours in the kitchen with fancy equipment, cooking meals, canning, and sterilizing them.
This is especially important since most of the harvests tend to come at the same time, leaving you pressed for time.
And because you don’t need gas or electricity for fermenting your vegetables, you save on energy costs as well.
Of course, there are times when we want to enjoy some pizza in winter with homemade pizza sauce, and for that, we use the canning method.
Canning is another excellent way to preserve your harvests.
It allows you to store food for long periods and enjoy the flavors of summer even in the dead of winter.
Another great method to preserve your harvests is drying.
Drying helps to concentrate flavors and can be done with minimal equipment.
For example, sun-drying tomatoes is a simple and effective method.
You can simply slice the tomatoes thinly, lay them out on a drying rack, and place them in a sunny spot.
Cover them with a fine mesh to keep insects away, and turn them occasionally until they’re completely dry.
This method intensifies the tomato flavor and makes them perfect for use in salads, pastas, and as a pizza topping during the winter months.
No matter which method you use, preserving your harvests during the abundant growing months and storing them for winter use is essential if you want to enjoy food from your garden every week of the year.
It’s all about making the most of what you grow and ensuring you have a steady supply of homegrown goodness even when the garden isn’t producing.
By mastering these preservation techniques, you can enjoy the fruits (and veggies) of your labor all year long.
So, whether you’re canning tomatoes for a winter pizza or fermenting carrots for a healthy snack, preserving your harvests is key to year-round homegrown food.
Conclusion
Now you know what year-round vegetables can do for you, and you clearly understand the steps to get there.
Imagine having a decent amount of your own homegrown and healthy food, even in the colder months of the year.
That’s the dream, right?
With every plant you’re growing, you’ll have better food than you can get in the stores.
You’ll create a lifestyle that brings you closer to self-sufficiency and provides you with peace of mind.
And the best part?
It’s totally achievable.
You’ve got the basic framework now:
Start your garden
Create a simple crop plan
Grow your vegetables
Preserve the harvest
But this is just the starting point.
There’s a whole world of gardening and homesteading to explore.
Start small (maybe begin with a few raised beds or a small patch in your yard) and experiment with different plants and techniques.
Learn from each season and let your garden grow with you.
You won’t get everything perfect right away, but that’s alright.
Enjoy the journey, discover what works best for you, and gradually expand your garden as you become more confident and gain more experience.
With each season, you’ll get better at it, and soon enough, you’ll be enjoying fresh, homegrown vegetables all year long.
And keep in mind, year-round food abundance all starts with planting that first seed.
After that, your relationship with food will never be the same again.
Thank you for reading this article.
I hope it was helpful.
In the next article, we’ll dive deeper into how to create a crop plan based on what you like to eat, optimized for your specific climate and garden size.
This plan will help you know exactly what to plant, where, when, and how much, so you can increase your production while reducing the overwhelm and confusion.
Happy gardening & Till next time,
Moreno
Whenever you're ready, and if it's the right fit, here are 4 ways I can help you:
1. Join Abundance by Design: Abundance by Design teaches you exactly how to plan, design, and start your homestead in 2 weeks or less using Permaculture. Learn how to achieve a level of self-sufficiency that gives you peace of mind, along with a well-structured plan that lays out the 'do this, then that' to get your homestead up and running smoothly.
2. Year-Round Vegetables - The Garden Planner: Learn how to turn your garden into a year-round grocery store. This course will teach you step-by-step how to create a garden plan for year-round vegetables that are aligned with your climate, food preferences, and garden size.
3. The Reconnected Newsletter: Sign up to receive my free weekly newsletter where I share practical tips to grow your independence & freedom from first seed to self-sufficiency, directly to your inbox.
4. The Homestead Startup Checklist: Download our free, step-by-step checklist you can use to plan, design, and start your homestead from scratch (following our ‘Abundance by Design Framework’).
