Plant a Food Garden

Nurturing body and soul during a pandemic

In my herb garden, the chives are just beginning to poke through the soil. I’m eager to get out there and rake off the mulch that’s been protecting them and other perennials over the winter. However, we’re due for a bit of spring snow tonight, so I’ll have to be content with some more garden planning and plotting before it’s really time to play in the dirt.

This year, in the middle of the Covid-19 turmoil, we’ll be planting more vegetables than ever before, and adding a few more medicinal herbs. Who knows how much longer the farmers markets will be closed? And will the grocery stores be able to continue to reliably supply us with fresh food? We can hope for the best, but I think it’s prudent to prepare for the worst or something in between. Besides, gardening is a healthy, stress-relieving, creative, and soul-nourishing way to spend time, and many of us have a lot of time these days. An other important benefit is that you’ll be attracting the pollinators that our food supply requires and protecting ecosystem biodiversity at the same time. (During WWI and WWII, people were encouraged to grow Victory Gardens to supplement their food rations and boost morale. An internet search will yield some fascinating info.)

People of all ages can be gardeners, no matter where they live. As my husband and I have aged, with less flexible knees and backs, we first switched to raised bed gardens and are now enjoying our deck planters (pictured above). Young children can have fun cultivating their own food. If you live in an apartment, container gardening can provide you with a surprisingly bountiful harvest. No suitable space in your backyard? Then tear up your front lawn.

If you are a novice gardener, you can find a wealth of information and help online. I have scattered some links throughout this post, and you can check out the remaining 70 or so free gardening articles that we’ve published over the years in Natural Life Magazine, which my husband and I founded in 1976.

So, I encourage you to get growing! I’m pretty sure you’ll appreciate both the immediate experience and the future results.