With our busy lives, who can take the time to grow a traditional garden? Who has the space in their HOA mandated landscape to grow vegetables? While I passionately embrace gardening, I have never, ever embraced a love of hoeing, watering, or for that matter, straight rows!
I grew up in the 1960’s in rural America, the youngest of 4 girls whose father grew a huge garden. We planted rows of beans, corn, tomatoes, peppers, squash, and potatoes. My father, being an equal rights man as he had no sons, taught his daughters to garden as he had been taught by his father, who had been taught by his father.
He was a stickler for details, such as his straight rows which made the garden beautiful every year. He would cut the potato pieces so each piece had exactly the same amount of eyes. He would hand us the bucket of uniform pieces and we would carefully place the eyes in those long rows. He would come behind us and adjust them to form regimented soldiers of potato pieces, then as gently as he tucked us in at night, he covered the potato eyes.
We hoed weeds for hours, suckered tomatoes, and hand watered until I thought my arms would fall off. It was HARD WORK! I didn’t realize until I was on my own, how good those fresh vegetables tasted. I also didn’t realize he had planted a love of gardening in me as tradition to be passed down to my own children.
I am excited to tell you there are methods of vegetable gardening that you CAN embrace while starting a tradition of love and appreciation of how vegetables grow. You can delight in your own home grown veggies and feel good about what you are eating while teaching your children how vegetables arrive on the dinner table.
Encourage your children to eat vegetables by involving them in the process of growing their own food. All you need is a bucket or two, or a bale of straw and some GOOD DIRT! You are going to be absolutely amazed at how much you can grow on your patio or outside your back door! Start a tradition with your own children or grandchildren; show them the amazing transition of one potato eye into baked potatoes on their plate!
Attend the seminar at the 15th Annual North Atlanta Home Show on “Secrets your granny didn’t share with you about growing vegetables”. On Saturday, February 11th at 5:00 pm, I will show you how to use that bale of straw or bucket of dirt to grow a wonderful garden!
Donna Dixon welcomes any questions you have on garden topics and can be contacted at Four Seasons Nursery and Landscaping, 770-932-3313.