Super Eco

Photo credit: *Susie*

"Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself...
Henry David Thoreau

"One of the most important resources that a garden makes available for use, is the gardener's own body. A garden gives the body the dignity of working in its own support. It is a way of rejoining the human race..."
Wendell Berry

"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt..."
Margaret Atwood

Because creativity and exuberance cannot be contained, because it is in our nature to till something, the woeful downturn in the economic garden signifies a joyful upturning in the kitchen garden.

Similar to the victory garden effort during World War Two, little organic gardens like those that The Front Yard Farmer will install for you and Spin Farming will incite you to, are springing up everywhere around us. Much to the alarm of the industrial farming machine, people are digging in and getting down and dirty to put organically grown food on their tables.

So be a rebel, begin to flex those green thumbs and do a summer internship in your very own organic garden.

Here is some food for thought:

1. Before you look outward into your garden, look inward to your kitchen to assess your needs--what you like to cook, what your family likes to eat--for inspiration about what to plant.
2. Herb plants like parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme can be expensive to purchase--organically grown or not--and yet are so easy to cultivate. They add such romance to simple, elegant, tasty slow food.
3. Grow compact things like delicious heirloom tomatoes and lettuces and leafy greens in containers--they are so easy to maintain--to optimize space.
4. Orient and stage the location of your garden so that smaller sun craving plants are not shaded by larger sun gobbling plants as the day progresses.
5. Raised beds are a wonderful way to plant your intensive garden and ensure great economy of space.
6. Till, till the cows come home--amend and prepare your soil well--so that your vegetables can develop healthy root systems.
7. Start composting to support and enrich your garden.
8. Share your bounty--plant a row for the hungry--you will sleep better at night!

Plant your kitchen garden outside your kitchen door--like this wonderful photographer and gardener--for easy access!

Have an ever so beautiful day and Happy Gardening!