As food prices shoot up, so do backyard gardens

Think of it as a modern-day Victory Garden.

With gasoline prices soaring and food costs not far behind, the number of Americans planning to grow their own backyard vegetables this year is up sharply.

Gardening organizations, seed wholesalers, and local nurseries are all reporting hikes in the number of people buying vegetable seeds and starter plants.

It's a trend that started slowly several years ago, spurred by concerns about food safety, food quality, and global warming, say garden mavens. But this year's gasoline and food price spikes have had what could be called a "Miracle-Gro" effect on the backyard garden movement. This year, 39 percent of people with backyards told the Garden Writers Association they planned to grow vegetables this year. That's up 5 percent from last year, after remaining relatively stable with only small increases for much of the past decade.

"This is evolving into a perfect storm for vegetable gardening," says Charlie Nardozzi, senior horticulturist at the National Gardening Association in Burlington, Vt. "A lot of the economic things happening, and concerns are rising about global warming and carbon footprints, and so are worries about the quality of food, its price, and freshness – it's all come to a head."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0516/p01s01-ussc.html

We're getting better and more refined each year. Produce foods that we can eat throughout the season, can for the winter/spring & maximize limited land space (ie. had to nix the squash this year). Also growing things are seriously rising at the store - like peppers. We can share with all of our neighbors, and have more than enough for ourselves.

I won't waste my money on that pink cardboard they call tomatoes in the grocery store. Plus, their squash is old and flavorless compared to my own. A real red bell pepper actually has a delicious scent to it. Imagine...food that smells good.

I don't even have to think about cost and safety issues. Real vegetables taste better.

The importance of this little tidbit??

Potatoes are a CALORIE crop. Other root crops with lots of carbs are carrots, turnips, beets, rutabagas. But potatoes are your best bet.

So when we can't get corn or wheat of cornbased foods or wheatbased foods, we can still grow our own potatoes. I should have started a garbage bag with them on my balcony a couple of months ago.

i've got so many books about it, but live in an apartment. It would be fun to have a vege garden. My apartment is stuffed with light shelves for growing African violets and miniature ferns. Too bad I can't saute them with a little olive oil and garlic ....