Blueberries & Burpees

Gardening

“Gardening is the most therapeutic and defiant act you can do, especially in the inner city. Plus, you get strawberries.”

— Ron Finley

It might be just my tendency to romanticize the past, but I swear food just doesn’t taste the same as it did when I was a kid. Watermelons are bland, tomatoes are mealy and strawberries are bitter and white in the center. I blame genetically modified foods. The use of GMOs has become commonplace in our supermarkets. GMO’s are used to alter produce to look better, grow faster and yield more reliable crops at the expense of taste and nutrition. We know that food is the number one determinate of health – it is the fuel for mind and body and no matter how often you exercise you can only go as far as your fuel will allow.

This spring I decided to kick GMOs out of my diet, but organic produce is expensive for a graduate student like me. I wanted to know what REAL food tasted like…so I started a little garden on my 9^th floor apartment patio, and the food I can’t grow, I buy from farmers markets. So far growing a garden has been a rewarding experience and I have found that my food taste even better than any organic, locally grown produce. When you eat from a garden, your food is literally alive until the moment you pick it and eat it. Living food tastes better! I currently have tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, strawberries, green onions, green and red peppers and rosemary growing on my balcony.

Half of my garden. It's much bigger now!

The first cherry tomato - this lil' guy went right in my salad. :]

There is magic in taking a little seed, covering it in dirt and letting water and sun transform what seems like nothing into a very nutritious something. I hope you take some time and invest in a garden – your taste buds, wallet and body will thank you!

Anyone can grow a garden – anyone!

Places you can plant a food garden:

· In your backyard

· In your front yard

· In planters on your balcony, deck, patio, etc…

· In a window box

· In a community garden – Google your neighborhood + community garden to find one!

· In a random patch of dirt. Ron Finley grows food gardens in center divides and empty lots in south central LA. This takes balls, you might get flak from your city, but this earth is yours – use it!

Some ideas for your unconventional garden: