With Gardens Booming, I Harvest Greens

Organic Bok Choy, Lettuce and Spinach from the Garden

The jump in food prices -- and perhaps just the delight of growing Real Food -- has people gardening again, including me. Vegetable seed sales have overtaken flowers, community gardens are booming, and  spending on vegetable gardens rose 25 percent last year, NPR reports.

 

I took the plunge three years ago, when I was working on my book, Organic Inc. Before that project, I had absolutely no interest in growing anything. But having met farmers around the country, I figured, "I could do that" and took the plunge.

The motivation wasn't economic, though clearly there was an economic benefit, since we were spending about $50 a week on fresh veggies. There's also a guilt factor, since much of that money was being spent at the farmers' market and the advice on how to grow these plants came from those same farmers I used to buy from on a regular basis.

Even though my spending is now way down, my farmer mentors are incredibly encouraging. When I admitted I was guilty asking for yet more advice, Jim Crawford of New Morning Farm replied: "I've got a lot of other people to buy my veggies."

The first year was abysmal, but things quickly improved. Last year was the first time I had a three season garden (spring, summer, and fall), courtesy of a planting schedule worked out with farmer Jim and another great farmer in our area, Heinz Thomet of Next Step Produce. That meant we bought very little produce from June through Thanksgiving last year.

This spring has been cool, so the tomatoes I started are still in flats, though the greens are going gangbusters. The picture above is of our first bok choy and full head lettuce, and the last of the spinach we've been eating since April. We've got a ton of lettuce coming in, from full heads to spring mix. There's nothing like eating lettuce you've picked out of the garden an hour before.
- Samuel Fromartz

Comments

[Ed Bruske]

Great looking stuff, Sam. When did you plant your spinach?

[Organic George]

Here in So Cal our peas are done, strawberries are going good, Tomatoes are full of small green fruit, peaches are breaking color, apples are the sizing well, tangerines are almost done, avos are running strong, squash is setting bloom, lemons are in the silver stage, and well you get the picture.... life is good.

[Becks]

Great pictures! I couldn't agree more about how incredible it is to eat freshly picked lettuce - amazingly crisp and flavorful. I'm gardening for my first time this year (luckily with some more experienced gardeners) and it's been very rewarding. Our tomatoes just started to appear on the vines and squash should be ready to eat next week.

[Sam Fromartz]

Ed, I put in spinach seed on President's day weekend, along with first crop of radish. An Asian variety of spinach came up in about 6 weeks (very sweet, I can get the name if you want), and a curly spinach later. I should have planted more since it was done so early. Peas are starting to come in now, along with beets that I started in flats and transplanted and I'm thinning leeks and eating the baby ones.

George, all I can say is you folks in California ARE SPOILED. I was at the Santa Cruz farmer's market week before last drooling all over myself. Had great naval oranges, strawberries (just coming in here in the mid-Atlanic) etc., etc., etc. - all organic of course.

Becks, thanks for you comment. Gardening rocks! And yes, it's good to get tips from more experienced folks which is why I depend on my farmer friends in this region.

[Sam Fromartz]

This weekend I also finally put in the tomatoes and pepper plants. It was very cool and wet here so I waited about 2-3 weeks longer than last year.

[Roz Cummins]

I find that another benefit of growing at least some of my own food (mostly just herbs, edible flowers, raspberries, and tomatoes, in my case - I go to the farmers market for everything else) is that I feel great sympathy for organic farmers when my own tiny crop is attacked by some kind of insect infestation or gets damaged by an early frost. I ask myself "What if this were my livelihood?" It helps me to keep things in perspective and to appreciate just how difficult the task of the organic farmer really is.