6 Health & Environmental Benefits of Growing Your Own Fruit

If you don’t include fruits and vegetables in your current diet, it may be time for a change. However, you probably already buy these items at your local grocery store if you enjoy them often. Whatever the case may be, you should consider planting one or more fruit trees or vegetable plants on your property. Whether you choose popular or less common fruits, you’ll love the results you get from your home garden. Check out these health and environmental benefits of growing your own fruit in your yard.

Store-Bought Produce Travels Far

Most people purchase their fruit from their local grocery store, but they probably don’t know where the items actually come from. Believe it or not, most store-bought produce may travel up to 1,500 miles to arrive at your grocery store. Although this may not be a huge deal to you, it makes you wonder how the fruit lasts that long, as it may not be a quick trip from the tree to the store shelves. It may go through a cleaning, packaging, or shipping process before getting to the grocery store.

On the other hand, growing your own fruit is a surefire way to ensure you’re putting the freshest produce in your body. Furthermore, it may last much longer after you harvest from the tree because it doesn’t require extensive preparation and shipping processes.

You Can Reduce Dangerous Pesticide Use

It’s no secret that many large fruit-producing farms use chemical pesticides to ensure insects and animals don’t damage their trees. This makes sense, as these trees are their livelihoods—if they don’t have fruit to sell, they won’t make enough money to stay afloat. However, there are other more natural pesticide solutions, but most large farms don’t use them because it’s more challenging to administer and maintain.

With that said, you can reduce dangerous pesticide use by growing your own garden full of gorgeous fresh produce. Whether you use coffee grounds, human hair, or another solution, you can keep unwanted animals away from your plants without harmful chemicals or pesticides.

It Tastes Better

If you’ve ever eaten an apple directly from the tree at a local orchard, you know that there’s nothing better than extra fresh fruit. Store-bought fruit still tastes good, but fresh produce directly from the source is an excellent experience. Unfortunately, there may be extra flavors or freshness differences from packaging and pesticides from store-bought items. With that said, you can get the best-tasting fruits when you grow them at home in your own garden.

Gardening Provides Learning Opportunities

Gardening is a lot like cooking—it takes time to learn what works and what doesn’t. However, you don’t give up when something goes wrong; instead, you simply try again with another approach. Growing your own fruit is a beautiful experience, and you’ll learn a lot along the way. If you feel like you’re in a spot in your life where you’re not growing or learning, you should consider gardening as a hobby, as there’s always something new to learn. When you have this continuous learning experience, you may improve your own health and strength while also cultivating a working garden to feed you and your family.

It Helps You Connect With Nature

We all need to connect with nature, but it’s much easier said than done. Although you can spend tons of time outdoors intentionally, gardening is an excellent way to spend time outdoors without thinking too much about it. While you will have to make time to care for your plants, it’s much easier to want to do it when you have a specific goal in mind.

You’re responsible for several plant lives, which can help you connect with nature on a deeper level. Consider making it a relaxing experience by taking a few minutes to close your eyes and breathe in the fresh air around you each time you go out to check on your garden.

Gardening Can Improve Your Mental Health

Mental health is essential to your overall health, and you may feel down, sad, or physically ill if your mental well-being is suffering. With that in mind, you should make an effort to ensure you have a hobby to keep your hands and mind active. Although there are plenty of hobbies to choose from, gardening is one of the best. You’ll keep yourself busy doing something you enjoy, but it also doesn’t feel like a waste of time.

Unfortunately, many people ditch their hobbies because they don’t have the time or they need to do something more productive—what’s more productive than growing fruit for your own kitchen?

Tips for Growing Your Own Fruit

Now that you know the many reasons to cultivate your own garden, you may need a few additional tips for growing and caring for plants when you order peach trees online. Follow along for a few helpful pointers for beginners.

Choose a Good Spot

Your tree’s permanent location is incredibly important for its overall growth and success. With that said, you should choose a spot with great sun exposure and well-drained soil. Consider monitoring the potential spot the week before planting to ensure it works. If necessary, choose another spot to suit your new plants.

Pick Plants Wisely

Not every plant is suitable for your area. Therefore, you should choose them according to your hardiness zone to ensure they can survive the winter weather conditions or tropical climates.

Protect Your Trees

Protecting your trees is incredibly important, and you should do everything you can to prevent pests, disease, and weather damage. Whether you need to use anti-pest solutions or windbreaks, protection is crucial while your trees are still new.

Be Patient

Patience is important when it comes to growing fruit trees, as many trees don’t produce fruit right away. Interestingly, some varieties may take up to 10 years to yield a significant harvest. With that said, you should start as soon as possible if you want to grow fruit.

Now that you know these surprising health and environmental benefits of growing your own fruit, you’re ready to begin your personal gardening journey. You won’t regret your decision when you get the first taste of your very own homegrown apples, pears, and peaches.