Growing interest in gardens

posted by Karen

The financial crisis, with accompanying increases in food prices, has led to a sudden interest in home gardens and "growing your own". Well, this "sudden interest" is true for Europe and N. America at least. For instance, The Economist reported (Feb 28th 2009) that, in Arkansas, U.S.A: "gardens are springing up in backyards, school grounds and even on lawns in posh neighbourhoods". The Financial Times takes a more, well, financial view on things - click here to read the full article. The Ecologist magazine (U.K.) also has something to say, quoting Margi Lennartsson, Policy Director at Garden Organic: "...gardens should play a key part in securing the future of our food and this must be recognised by Government". 

Interestingly, each article in these publications, found at random, links interest in gardening to times of crisis - the Financial Times mentions "the gloom of 1974", while the Ecologist says we should not see growing our own food as similar to the "Dig for Victory" campaign during the war, but rather look at the role gardening can play in the U.K.'s food security policy. The Economist reminds us of Eleanor Roosevelt's "Victory Gardens" in 1943, when 20 million Americans followed her lead of planting a garden in the White House. By the end of the war, the Economist article tells us, ordinary Americans grew 40% of the nation's vegetables.   

 In Africa, Asia and Latin America, however, home gardens, kitchen gardens or urban gardens often provide extra food income or herbal medicine to a household. This brings many questions to my mind - why are we in "developed countries" now only seeing gardening as a response to a crisis? Is this how home gardens are viewed in other regions? Has it not always been part of life to some degree? Should it not be an option that has always been open to us? In "developed countries" we are so dependent on money, supermarkets and shops that gardening is seen as a last resort when these are threatened.

However, things are changing. More people are becoming aware that gardening increases our independence, provides healthier food, some exercise and a great deal of satisfaction. Allotments are now back in fashion, waiting lists are huge. The image of having an allotment or growing vegetables as being the preserve of hippies or retired old men, is long gone. And there are many online resources to help those starting out - The World Food Garden is just one example.

Meanwhile, good ideas get recycled. After much campaigning in the U.S.A., last week saw Michelle Obama, spade in hand, preparing a garden in the White House grounds -click here for pictures. Let's hope she is not digging for victory but ackowledging the role gardening can play in household survival, healthy diets, contributing to food sovereignty and security, and lowering carbon emissions. Above all, let's hope she is using sustainable practices...

Comments

[Bertie]

According to a Washington Post blog from April 9, see http://tinyurl.com/ct2ynm,
the Obama family's kitchen garden is an organic garden, but not certified organic (to get a certification takes 3 yrs). The garden cost about 200 dollars to install. This is what has been sown/planted: 25 varieties of heirloom seeds and seedlings including kale, rhubarb, arugula and 10 kinds of herbs. One bed contains plants favored by Thomas Jefferson, including Brown Dutch and Tennis Ball lettuce, Prickly Seed spinach and Savoy cabbage.