I just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle – A Year of Food Life, by Barbara Kingsolver. (And by "reading" I mean I listened to the book on cd during my commute. It's kind of like cheating, but I think it's good use of an otherwise boring 20 minutes.) This book tells the story of a family's year-long commitment to eating locally. It has left me fantasizing about digging up our entire lawn to grow a wider variety of fruits and veggies and doing totally wacky things like raising chickens and making my own cheese. I have to keep in mind that the Kingsolver family owns a small farm, not a small suburban lot, and they have the time to work that farm. And getting Nate to agree to dig up the lawn to grow veggies he doesn't particularly want to eat could be a challenge. But I'm already starting to plan next year's garden. I'm hoping to expand a little and mix more edibles in with our flower beds – crossing my fingers that the bunnies will stay away. I have a lot of research to do. I wonder how much space I'd need for sweet potatoes...
You can read more about Animal, Vegetable, Miracle here. Check it out. Maybe you'll be inspired too.
2 comments:
I looked into this after some vergatarian friends did what they called a 12 inch garden. I think you find it under intensive gardening. They planted things in 1 foot squares instead of rows. I did not do this in Ginny's garden exactly but had sections of peas, carrots,and lettuce followed by zucchini. I have put rhubarb and tomatoes among my flowers for years with good results as long as I remember to fertilize somehow and to find sunny spots to do it. Potato crops might be hard. Keep me posted.
Love, Sharon
I have a book called "Square Foot Gardening" - it must be the same sort of thing. I've been using that method the last few years and it works well for my small space. I'd love it if you could come over in the spring and help me find good spots for my tomatoes!
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