Every week we have gardeners coming in to our shops inquiring about “going organic”. For seventeen years now, we have been teaching the way and selling the products that make this task so easy.

In the 1970’s we moved around a lot. Everywhere we went, we would dig a hole, plant, and the plant would thrive. We moved to Texas and we could not even dig a hole. After ten years with a Troy Bilt tiller, volumes of oak leaves and grass clippings (this was the time before mulching mowers) and homemade compost, the soil in our vegetable garden grew anything we planted.

Today it can be done so easily. Great quality organic compost comes in bags if you do not have time to make your own. Organic fertilizers, both granular and liquid are readily available and easy to use. Plant the right plant in the right place. There is no way a gardenia will survive in the full sun here in Texas. Choose plants for the bulk of your landscape that are native, or at least well adapted to your area. Water wisely - we here in Texas do not have any to waste (check out this website - http://www.wateriq.org/ for more information). Mulch all beds to discourage weeds, conserve moisture and prevent disease. If pests appear, first make sure they are harmful pests. Will the local bird control contingent take care of them if they are not desirable? Are there beneficial insects that will control them? I prefer to take that route before using any kind of pest control, even if it is an organic one.

In the end, “gardening organic” is a way of life. You become more in tune with your surroundings - and that is a not a bad way to live.

This morning, as I walked to the office, instead of driving, I was listening to the latest podcast from The Splendid Table (www.splendidtable.publicradio.org ). This is one of my favorite podcasts, but this morning was more special to me than usual. For one year now, the goal of fifteen selected volunteers from all over the country was to get 80 percent of their food from local sources that were preferably organic. Interviews with the participants made it quite clear that this had been quite a challenge. What was heartening was how this had changed the lifestyle of many of them. They had to learn what was available in their community. They became more involved in home vegetable gardening. And they learned to cook more creatively, as they cooked with what they had, not what a recipe called for - we should do more of this.

Lynne’s next interview was with Barbara Kingsolver, author of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. If you have not read this book, you must! Barbara and her family embraced a rural lifestyle and only bought food raised locally or food they grew themselves. This has been one of my favorite books. Back in the 70’s my husband and I contemplated this kind of lifestyle, but never followed through with it.

What both of these women emphasize is the importance of fresh, local and organic products. What we can do, is to take small spots throughout our yards to grow our own organic produce. It can be as simple as a few radishes, carrots and lettuces in a pot to a 100-foot row of potatoes. We are fortunate here in north Texas. We can be planting many of these vegetables very soon. I will keep you posted.

I was in our Dallas store this week reordering seeds. I remember back in the early 90’s when I started in business, that we may have reordered two or three times a season. We are now doing so almost every week. It is also interesting to note that most of the seed sales are vegetables and herbs.

I am so excited. Vegetable gardening has always been a part of my life. My Mum was in England in the 40’s - I remember her conversations about the Victory Garden they had in the countryside where many Londoners fled to avoid the bombings. As immigrants to Canada, we always had a large vegetable garden. Surplus potatoes, onions and garlic lasted for months in our root cellar. Peas were frozen, the freezer being a major purchase that lasted for years. Beets were canned or pickled. Broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts were frozen. Since it was a cooler climate, we had lettuce and spinach all summer long. There was an endless supply of zucchini transformed into every dish possible (and we still had to give lots away!). Tomatoes were canned, pureed and made into sauces. We also had several raspberry bushes. Usually, the excess was frozen, except tor the year my Mum and Dad returned to England and Italy for the first time and left my husband and me in charge of the garden - we made wine instead. There was always parsley, sage, thyme and basil. My Mum would walk out to the garden each evening as she prepared supper to pick a handful of basil to go in our daily salad.

These are such fond memories. I hope that a new generation will learn to take part in this great pastime and tradition and pass it on to their families. And there is no reason not to do so gardening organically with the array of organic products now available on the market.