Why grow a garden?

To some, gardening is a glimpse of heaven. To others, it is necessary evil of doing battle with weeds and just a lot of hard work.

But, for those of us who do some kind of gardening, the question remains: Why?

Flower gardening and landscaping gardeners have an obvious answer: Beauty. As always, in the eye of the beholder. But beauty is an end to itself, and no one really wants to live in a plug-ugly home.

For me, it just wouldn’t be spring without the daffodils and tulips greeting me each time I walk up my front pathway.

Food gardening is a different story. Although many of us enjoy the appearance of a row of beets or a shapely tomato plant or a nice stand of corn, we have many motivations. Some of us grew up with time in the garden - a necessary fact of life as parents ordered us to work. And then, some of us played making mud pies in the back yard. Children seem to find playing in dirt endlessly attractive. And some of us have just not grown up!

I think that right now in the U.S., economy is the one reason many new and returning gardeners are choosing to grow their own food. It used to be that vegetables were inexpensive, but the cost of oil has driven up transportation costs, and food costs have increased considerably. I am pleased that several of the local markets are willing to buy and sell locally produced fruits and vegetables. I would rather buy from a neighbor than from some international corporation marketing from Chile, Mexico or Argentina.

Growing your own food is the ultimate cost saver. I once read an article that stated that about the only thing we can do to add to our income without being subject to taxes is to grow our own food.

And if we grow our own, we know what is in our food. To many, it is important that food not have lots of pesticides and herbicides. The best way to ensure that is to grow our own.

The taste of a ripe tomato, just picked and eaten in the garden, peas fresh off the vine, crunchy asparagus devoured as we walk into the house, apples munched right off the tree, the sweetness of a home-grown carrot that can never be compared with one trucked in - another reason to food garden is for the taste. No one can deny that store bought produce just plain tastes pale compared to what is grown in our own garden.

And now, for a few tomato hints... Many folks go out and buy the biggest tomato plant they can find at the store. After all, if it is huge, it is healthy, and will surely produce the biggest and best crop of tomatoes – right? Wrong! I hate to be a myth-buster, but scientific studies have shown that while that huge plant may produce the earliest tomatoes, it will not produce the most. That honor goes to a much younger plant, smaller in size that has more vigor when planted in its final garden spot. So while we all want the first juicy ripe tomato as soon as possible, (buy one of the biggies for that) buy more of the little guys for lots of tomatoes all season long. And as for planting, dig a nice deep hole, nip off all the lower leaves, and bury that tomato plant deep! All the nodes that had produced branches and leaves will switch to growing roots, and your new plant will become a super plant. Tomatoes love warm soil.

Although the snow is off the heart of Baldy, tomatoes will make their best growth when it is really warm, and so you might want to wait until the recommended planting date of June 1 anyway. Of course, who knows what the weather holds.... Happy Gardening!