a few words from a young gardener
If you grow up in a city, it is hard to get a chance to see and be in some green space. Most of us live in apartments and condos and don’t really get a chance to get out and plant something in the soil. It may be harder for young people to get out and understand where the fruit and vegetables in the grocery store come from.
I really think it’s so important to understand how to grow something. Many times I have heard young people who are confused about how to grow vegetables and fruit. It baffles me and makes me sad, but I have also been fortunate enough to grow up in a city with a back yard and a piece of land where we can grow something.
When I was young, I was taught how to garden and I helped plant our garden with my mother every year. Whether it was flowers in the front or a vegetable patch in the back, mom would tell me how to dig it and how to plant it. When I grew older and worked on a vineyard, I now had the chance to plant a large garden and use it for the restaurant. Many people were involved in the plant and harvest of that garden and produce was used in the restaurant. Now every spring my mother and I still plant a vegetable garden and talk about our families doing the same thing years ago.
It’s beautiful to watch Mother Nature work and see how things progress naturally. One day it can be a tiny plant and the next day with some heat and sunshine, you will see a burst of the plant living happily in the air.
I can’t tell you how satisfying it is to eat something that you have grown. I’m not sure if it’s because we take our hands and give something the time and love. It may be the fact that we actually care enough about something so simple because we crave a result and we crave something that we help to create.
I love seeing how each plant grows and how the vegetables and fruit look all different and not uniform like you see in the grocery store. I feel like gardening and growing plants somehow reconnects you with the earth and the dirt we used to play in when we were young.
It’s beautiful to cook and create with simple ingredients that you have watched grow from a seed to a full blossom fruit or vegetable. I grow a different vegetable or fruit every year. Every year I try something new and experiment to see what will grow well and bear a lot of fruit. I like to try something new and just see how it turns out and then maybe the next year I will try something different.
This year I have chosen nasturtium. It has flowers and grows up like a vine, with large green leaves. The flowers are edible and good for the bees and the leaves can be used to make a pesto or chimichurri sauce. Try to pick the leaves when you have a big bunch, so that you get a good amount of sauce. You can also pick the leaves and use them in salads as well as the plants
Gardens are also good for bugs and plants and the air we breathe. A little plant in your kitchen can create a small bit of fresh oxygen for your home.
A garden can start as maybe a hole in your yard or maybe it’s a pot on your patio. Try something new and grow something that will make you happy. Try a small indoor herb garden, so you don’t have to buy fresh herbs every time at the store and reduce your bill. Save you egg cartons and start little seedlings in there and move them into larger containers as they grow. Most of the time all you need is sunlight on a windowsill and water.
Happy gardening!
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