In Tough Times, Plant Food--And Joy

I invite you to bury your troubles in the dirt for an hour, even if it is just the dirt in a single flowerpot.

In times like this, people plant and tend gardens. We plant to save money. To have something for the family to do at home. To have food even when the store shelves are empty. To get exercise and lessen stress. To have some control over something. To have fresh herbs for fragrance and well-being. To see a red zinnia or a sunflower bright against the sky. To forget the news and the noise for a bit and be part of the bigger living world, along with the bumblebees and the robins.

The first question is—What do you want or need most? Cut flowers for the house to cheer you up? As much food as possible? Teas and body care products? Medicinal herbs? Special foods with cultural or personal significance? All good reasons to plant a garden; all with different needs for space, sunlight, soil, and amount of labor. The point is to be clear about your priorities. There are always trade-offs.

Consider adding to our community's resources by planting extra food for those who can't. Or perhaps you could take up the challenge of growing medicinal herbs for local use. You don't have to know how to prepare and dispense remedies, if you connect with an herbalist who does. Perhaps they have the knowledge but not the materials.

If food security is your goal, these tips will help:

• Choose crops for spring, summer, and fall planting. You need meals all year, not just tomato season.
• Plant little by little, not all at once. Most folks would rather have fresh broccoli every few days for a couple of months, instead of a single big harvest you have to freeze before it rots.
• Seek out crops that keep producing. Spinach has a short life—one or two pickings is all you get. Chard is a similar leafy green that produces every few days all season. Pole beans and indeterminate tomatoes produce all summer too.
• Grow storage crops as well as fresh vegetables. Winter squash, potatoes, dry beans, onions, and polenta corn keep all winter without special processing. Amaranth,quinoa, sorghum, and teff are gluten-free grains that don't need special machinery to prepare. Peppers keep well and are easy to dry. Consider learning to can tomatoes.
• Remember all those stories about trying to give zucchini away? Unless you are planning to make dehydrated zucchini for storage, plant just one or two, and save space for something that keeps.
• Learn to make soup. You will get a lot more out of your garden if you can throw whatever is ripe into the soup pot. Freeze the leftovers in 1-pint jars and you have lunches ready to microwave whenever you need them.
• Salads and pepper plants work especially well in containers. In spring, give your lettuce the spot that warms up first. In summer, put it where there's afternoon shade. In winter, move it near the door so you can find it in the dark. Peppers in pots can move to the porch in fall for more ripening time.
• Plant something you really love. It doesn't matter if that's basil, potatoes, or sunflowers. Plant something that gives you joy.