I was beginning to give up hope, then spring arrived. When I saw flowers budding I also saw gardeners everywhere. Clutching spades, yanking out the dead plants, raking madly. Let the planting begin!
I would not self describe as a gardener. I’ve mostly lived in apartments. This hasn’t stopped me from planting every year. Window boxes with pansies and herbs, pots of rosemary on a fire escape, planters with basil…. a few dismal efforts with vegetables which are simply too painful to discuss.
I get a little thrill leaning out to pluck some basil to top up the salad. And that thrill I think makes every gardener an environmentalist.
And being an environmentalist often changes the way you eat. I always buy organic eggs. Some places they are double the price but where I live they are about a buck more and boy does that make me feel good. Shopping basket full of cupcakes but those eggs are organic every time. People what they eat to make their diets more planet friendly.
If you’re growing more than a few dollars worth of parsley over a summer, you are also getting into serious garden products. Not the gloves and trowels, the weed killers. How do grow lovely organic veggies without covering them with poison?
The owners of the Backyard Urban Farm Company give some tips..
When you hear the Greens – yes that’s their name – describe their garden you will think they must have a farm! They do not. (Check out the photos below) They grow tons of stuff in a small downtown garden. Even their dog Dixie has to donate them space.
photo by JP Davidson
Ready to start gardening, so you can eat vegetables right from the garden?
What's the thing to avoid in the garden center? What is the palm oil, the corn fructose of garden products? The ingredient that makes you say “I think not” when you’re shopping for something to keep down the weeds.
Mark Flogel is a Senior Researcher with Greenpeace in the US has the answer. And here are the ads that Mark was talking about.
Roseann Tos started a small garden in front of our office because she found that even though environmentalists are treehuggers, they can’t always tell you what kind of tree they’re hugging.