Fresh vegetables in the yard reduces both time-consuming trips to the supermarket and meal preparation time. No need to spend time removing peas from their pods, thanks to sugar snap peas that have edible pods and taste delicious raw or lightly steamed. Neither is there a need to cook tender young carrots, peas, corn, peppers, summer squashes and other crops from the garden at all. Already tender, they are delicious raw or heated briefly in a little water in the microwave oven. Homegrown vegetables, then, provide quick meals, and food featuring maximum fiber and nutrition.
Homegrown food offers the most diversity of colors, sizes and shapes as well as convenience.
Gardeners can choose from a huge number of vegetable varieties featuring interesting colors, shapes and sizes never available at stores. There are little bite-sized peppers that are ready for dips and salads in no time at all. Small softballsized cabbages are perfect for today's smaller families, eliminating waste and saving preparation time. Tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, eggplants, Swiss chard and even corn are now available in a rainbow of colors. There are yellow watermelons, striped beets, purple beans, pink eggplants, purple asparagus, and blue potatoes in the garden, but not necessarily on store shelves.