Photos of a garden.

(These photos were taken with a camera phone so they are not the best quality, but I did what I could.)

Want to cut down on pesticides, preservatives, and other additives in your fruits, veggies, and herbs. Grow your own. Take a walk around my home and everywhere there is an available patch of dirt... you will find something either beautiful or edible growing there. If there isn't dirt, you will find large pots filled with herbs and flowers. We have lilies in the front yard that just came into bloom, not only are they beautiful, you can smell their fragrance all the way in the back yard.

If you don't know, I'll tell you, there is nothing like fresh homegrown vegetables, fruit, and herbs. If you have ever had a homemade pizza with tons of fresh basil, homegrown tomatoes, and homegrown greenpeppers (we haven't tried, nor have the desire to grow our own mushrooms yet) on it; you will renounce delivery. We grow tomatoes (I know... it's a fruit), tomatillos, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, green peppers, jalapenos, gypsy peppers, habanero peppers, rhubarb, apples, gooseberries, mulberries, blackberries, strawberries, oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil, parsley, sunflowers (to feed the birdies), and more. It seems like every summer we have a grocery store in our yard. It's great.

We have an enclosed front porch and believe it or not, 90% of our herbs survive the winter. It's wonderful to go on to the front porch and grab some fresh herbs for a spaghetti sauce in the middle of winter. Have you seen the prices on those small packages of fresh herbs in the grocery store? Ridiculous. When you grow herbs yourself you don't have to worry about a shelf life either, you just pick them as you need them.

I know what many of you are thinking; I'm not a gardener. It's really not that hard. We just purchase baby plants at the greenhouse or Home Depot, stick them in the ground or a pot filled with good dirt and water them. That's all that's required. If you can keep your lawn healthy, you can grow a garden. In the spring you should throw a little mulch on the ground to provide the vegetation with essential nutrients, but that's about as technical as it gets.

I encourage anyone who has a yard or places to put pots, to grow, grow, GROW! This results in MUCH better taste with less additives and the generally nasty stuff that is found in store bought items. Having fresh herbs all year long is a great thing to have. We make gumbo (thyme), soups (all herbs), and spaghetti sauces (oregano, and frozen homegrown tomatoes) all winter long. Fresh herbs make these comfort foods all the more comfy. You wont save a note worthy amount of money, and this does require more care and effort than walking into the store and throwing some tomatoes in a bag. But believe me... it is worth it.

God Bless.

-Timothy J Miller

Timothy J Miller is a Mortgage Professional, Marketing Guru, and 45-day coma survivor residing in Aurora, Colorado for 31 years.