Last night I sorted through my packets of seeds, most of them heirlooms from Baker Creek Seeds, and pulled out a few to plant this afternoon. Here in Colorado at 8,000 feet it will be a while till we plant outside, but our small greenhouse has space for some lettuce, bok choy, radishes, and a few other things. Think I will plant a few tomatoes to transplant outside later, and some sweet peppers.

Gardening is becoming more important to us, and we are not alone. More and more people are taking up gardening, or resuming it.

Some reasons:

• Food prices are rising in general
• Non-organic produce is hard on the earth and on us, but organic veggies can be pricey and often not great quality if picked weeks or months before
• You can’t get the flavor any other way, except maybe by buying local produce in season
• The cost of produce that travels a long way is getting worse, both invironmentally and economically
• It’s a really good skill to have!

Here’s a blog post I just came across and really liked: Garden as if Your Life Depended On It, Because It Will. The writer, Ellen LaConte, talks about the coming decades and how important gardening will become. Well worth taking a look!

Now off to work on our garden beds outside!