Return of Gardens

How the high cost of food is bringing back the garden.

During World War II planting a garden was done out of a patriotic duty, but today planting a garden is being done out of economic necessity.

Organizations such as the Heart of Texas Urban Gardening Coalition in Waco, Texas are forming in order to promote and growing food and distributing and selling it. Schools are also growing their own food; G.L. Wiley Middle School and Doris Miller Elementary have after school gardening clubs. At the San Antonio Botanical Gardens parents and children work on their gardens on Saturday mornings in the Children’s Vegetable Garden.

Programs like these are planting seeds, not just to grow food from but for a future generation of gardeners. Gardening, like cooking, is a skill that is many times passed down from one generation to the next. However, the most recent generation has been more disconnected from the Earth than any other generation.

There is even a program called Edible Estates, which has a project at the Sierra Ridge apartment complex in south Austin, Texas. The purpose of the Edible Estates project is the replacement of the domestic front lawn with a highly productive edible landscape.

According to an article in the Asian Tribune, twenty-five million U.S. households planted vegetable and fruit gardens in 2007, according to Bruce Butterfield of the National Gardener's Association, and that number is expected to increase by several million this year.

This is not just important because of the high price of food, but it is also important because of the future that awaits us.

Modern American cities have been built around one idea: cheap fuel. Commuting to work is a predominately American phenomenon. As the price of gas rises more and more Americans are moving closer to the cities that they work in. Faculty and staff at Texas A&M University live as far away as the Woodlands outside of Houston. Office workers in Downtown Houston live as far away as Conroe and sometimes further.

The lack of an abundance of cheap fuel is going to force communities to refocus their economies locally. This will breathe new life into farmers markets. It will breathe new life into a foreign concept to some: knowing your neighbors. Even shopping on the internet is going to change. Think Craig’s List, not Amazon.

Possibly the best reason to start a garden: nothing tastes as good as something you have grown yourself.

Local Note:
Have questions about gardening? If you are reading this in the Bryan-College Station area then the Doctor Zorba of gardening is able to answer your questions. Every Thursday from noon to 1pm on KAMU 90.9 FM Texas A&M professor Douglas F. Welsh, Ph.D host a local radio show called Garden Success.