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.