vegetable gardening

**G*@aol.com**

All good points on gardening from Margaret L. but I'm pleased that I'm  
seeing what I consider an increase in interest on the part of kids in primary  and 
middle schools in gardening. I judge at local flower shows each spring, and  
it appears to me that there are concentrated efforts on the part of teachers to 
 get some gardening interests going with kids. Each year the entries by kids 
has  been greater, both in art related to gardening and in entries in 
vegetable and  flower gardening.

It's far more than I've seen in the 30 years or so that I've been at  this.

And this, as Margaret (a one-time Riverside resident) knows is in an area  
that isn't great for gardening except in the winter. In Southern California in  
the Riverside-San Bernardino-Redlands-Ontario-Chino area temps are 90 to 100  
plus for much of the summer, starting as early as May and continuing into 
early  October. That discourages even the committed gardener, although many of us 
still  continue.

And in my particular neighborhood, the Canyon Crest area near UC Riverside,  
I see more and more annual and perennial flowers being grown, and an increase 
in  vegetable container gardening. I switched from containers this year to 
raised  beds, which does help the harvester (my wife) to bring in the produce.

But I would have to agree that there isn't a major trend toward more  
gardening, although gasoline prices may help to get  more people out into  the 
garden. And UC Riverside has abandoned its community garden so more  structures can 
be built--bad idea, many of us think.

Gerald Burke
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