Report From An Opinionated Gardener – March 2
I went into the garden center today to start heirloom tomato seeds. This year we’ll pot up more of these than we’ve grown in the past; based on our sales last year, and the continued interest in vegetable gardening, we should do very well with these plants this spring.
For the past five years I’ve been saying that I believe that vegetable gardening and local, safe food would be the way that most Gen X and Y’ers would come to gardening. So far, all studies of current gardening trends show this to be true. Edible landscaping is big. People are installing raised beds in front and back yards and school vegetable gardens abound.
This makes some long-time gardeners nervous. If vegetable gardening is hot right now, they argue, it could become old news in the next three years. Everything old might be new again, but everything new is in danger of becoming outdated quickly as the media and public attention moves on.
What gives me hope is my own experience. As someone who came of age in the 60’s, I was part of the generation that was captivated by the back to the land movement. We loved Helen and Scott Nearing, The Whole Earth Catalog and organic foods. And it stuck. For many of the children of the 60’s, gardening became a way of life.
I hope this happens for my children’s generation…they are now young adults and tasty, safe, organically grown food is important to them. May they keep planting.
The gardens at Poison Ivy Acres have their roots in our experience in Wisconsin in the late 1960's and early 70's. Those currents of popular culture of those times nurtured a love of gardening that has sustained us, emotionally and physically, for the past 35 years. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
