Re: garden revival?

**J* B* <j*@usol.com>**

Carolyn,
Oh how I wish it would be so easy as to offer home owners the simple  
facts, which should in all cases lead them to the decision to start  
some veggies.  We certainly can't blame the lack of interest on the  
availability of practical veggie garden info; there is a ton and most  
of it is accurate.
The crucial problem which I have never been able to challenge in any  
meaningful way is that vegetable gardening is hard.  Parts of it  
involve hard work.  Most of the time, however, it is the lack of  
success on first trial which turns most people away.  Vegetable  
gardens take time; a commodity that we all admit is disappearing in  
our society.
My approach to trying to overcome all the barriers these days is to  
sneak up behind them and suggest (innocently of course) that growing  
lettuce in a container of flowers is a way to get unusual colors and  
foliage and it tastes terrific.  I figure if they are successfuly  
with that first crop, all be it meager, they might move to more.
Another sneaky approach is the French potager or cottage garden  
containing flowers and vegetables in somewhat equal quantities.   
Twenty five square feet is a nice safe scale in which to start.

Jeff Ball
jeffball@usol.com
810-724-8581
Check out my daily blog at www.gardeneryardener.blogspot.com
Check out my extensive web site at www.yardener.com

On Jan 4, 2008, at 4:16 AM, Carolyn Ulrich wrote:

I agree that you're describing reality, but there are now so many
reasons why people should be growing more of their own food
(nutrition, taste, transportation costs of importing food, freedom
from pesticides--if you so wish) and it seems that it's our job to be
cheerleaders for the cause. Isn't this where the education part of
our job comes in?
Carolyn Ulrich
On Jan 4, 2008, at 5:30 PM, Jeff Ball wrote:

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