As loonie plummets, victory gardens rise
It’s all over the print, radio and television news: As the loonie spirals downward and the California drought continues, the cost of imported vegetables and fruits climbs ever higher. One radio commentator told of shopping for a tomato for the evening’s salad. One tomato cost him $3. Another told of seeing heads of cauliflower priced at $9 each.
Almost daily comments on the same theme have filled many a home food gardener with heartfelt thanksgiving. An early January email from Tom, a neighbour and dedicated gardener, reflected on the current situation and the rewards of growing food.
“In this time of a plummeting Canadian dollar and escalating food prices, you might consider an article about the back gardens that got people through the Great Depression and helped overcome shortages during the Second World War. Our little plot, just six metres by six metres (20 feet by 20 feet) feeds us rather well in the summer and is carrying us into the winter with leeks, parsnips, kale and chard.”
Tom also noted that steep grocery bills may well cause those who have never gardened to delve into growing some of the family’s food. On a recent radio program on high food prices, a man called in with his (future) solution to the $9 cauliflower issue. He bought cauliflower seeds.
As for tomatoes in winter, I grow summer tomatoes and dry some of them in slices. They are delectable morsels of concentrated flavour, wonderful in all sorts of dishes. When making a salad I wash the greens and place them in a colander to drain while I blend a vinaigrette in a broad bowl. Into the salad dressing go small chunks of dried tomato, to rest there for a short while before I add torn greens and toss the salad. Growing food and the next best thing. Few of us are able to grow all our own vegetables and fruits, but almost all can grow something. If food costs are your main issue, give space priority to whatever is most expensive to buy.
To make the most of available space, grow as much food as possible vertically against netting or other supports. I use lengths of old wire fencing left on the property when I moved onto it. Cucumbers, pole and runner beans, peas, climbing zucchini and vining tomatoes take little space grown upward.
Fast-growing vegetables don’t need space of their own. Spinach can be seeded between the rows where corn will grow. Lettuce and endive can be transplanted around newly set out zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, pumpkin and winter squash transplants. The greens will be harvested and out of the way by the time the larger, longer-term plants expand to crowd them out. I routinely transplant lettuce and endive alongside germinating pea rows and staked tomato transplants.
Plan to follow one crop with another. For example, once the peas are harvested, clear the bed, dig in compost and fertilizer, and use the space for fall and winter vegetables. Last summer, my tomatoes had almost all ripened on the vines by late August — perfect timing for replacing them with lettuce, endive, cabbage and radicchio transplants.
Create gardening space by acquiring lightweight patio tubs and other containers for growing food. Check out garage sales as an inexpensive source. Pots are ideal for growing dwarf cherry tomato plants, basil, and mixed salad greens. My next door neighbour even grows her regular, staking type tomatoes in a row of pots on a small deck. She always has a good supply of tomatoes over the summer.
The next best thing to homegrown edibles is local farmers’ markets. There are more winter markets every year, as local growers, seeing opportunity, expand their greenhouse areas.
Buying locally grown produce makes sense. The cost is usually more affordable. The food will certainly be fresher and more flavourful, and the money spent will remain in the community to bolster the local economy.