This morning my dear husband left a Tri-State Observer article up for me. Thought this bit was noteworthy:
This year, 39 percent of people with backyards told the Garden Writers Association they planned to grow vegetables this year. That's up 5 percent from last year, after remaining relatively stable with only small increases for much of the past decade. [emphasis mine]
"This is evolving into a perfect storm for vegetable gardening," says Charlie Nardozzi, senior horticulturist at the National Gardening Association in Burlington, Vt. "A lot of the economic things happening, and concerns are rising about global warming and carbon footprints, and so are worries about the quality of food, its price, and freshness – it's all come to a head."This was good, too:
At the Garden Writers Association, which surveys people annually to see how they plan to spend their gardening dollars, there was genuine surprise at the big increase in preference for vegetable gardens. For years, the top three on the list were lawns, annuals, and perennials, with vegetable gardening a distant fourth. This year, vegetable gardening jumped to No. 2.
Also, just found this very good New York Times article from 17 April 2008 in which folks like Roger Doiron and Rose Hayden-Smith shed some light on kitchen gardens, the history of gardening at The White House, and more. Loved this quote about newbie gardeners:
''I think a lot of the young ones are in search of authenticity,'' [author Barbara] Damrosch said. ''They still have their iPods and their BlackBerrys, but they're interested in crafts and knitting and acoustic music. They don't like the fake. They can see through stuff.'' [emphasis mine]
Closer to home...our home anyway...my husband also found this 27 May 2008 story about Houston residents creating a community garden...there was this story about a newish community garden up in Dallas...and there was this very nice article in the San Antonio Express News about a Floresville school where troubled youth learn landscaping basics.
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