While my snow covered backyard in Utah is no indication, much of the country is gearing up for spring. My question to you is: what will you grow this year? If you want to move to more eco-friendly eating, pick at least one thing and go for it! Whether a tiny window box, a pot of herbs and lettuce on a city terrace, or a full blown garden in your backyard, the greenest food of all is that which you grow yourself.
Aside from your “crop” being some of the tastiest and nutrient packed foods you’ll likely eat this year, there’s a slew of other benefits: the added calories you burn in gardening, the strong roots of healthy eating you’re helping to nourish in your kids, and all of the resources (and carbon emissions) saved by growing actual food rather than grass, shrubs or flowers. This is not to mention money saved in your food budget, and the money saved on your shrink (exercise fights stress and boosts mood).
So take action. Start small, or go big. Visit www. backyardgardener.com for a jumpstart no matter where you live. You’ll be sowing good seeds in every sense.
As for me, as soon as the snow melts I will be planting a bunch of yummy lettuces in my pots this year rather than flowers. What will you be planting?
I plant as much as I can in my postage stamp sized yard. This year I have started lemon cucumbers, regular cucumbers, summer squash, bell peppers, tomatoes, radishes, chives, rosemary, basil and wahtever else I can squeeze in. Ideally I would be able to get snap peas and strawberries in too.
As a kid we had a huge kitchen garden full of everything we might ever want to eat. Now that I am a Mom, I want my daughters to experience eating fresh from the garden. They already know that kitchen wastes go in the compost pile and we check the garden to determine what we are eating for dinner.