Tip: Plant a Garden, Even a Small One

Here it is, late August, and we are thorougly enjoying the fruit of the garden in our backyard. I'm so thankful that Kathleen planted and has worked in our garden. She finds it relaxing (though she does get sore sometimes when she's been weeding for a long time), adn we all benefit from the great food.

While most people are able to buy many high-quality, low-cost ingredients at their local supermarket, there are some ingredients that are just better coming from your own garden. Nothing, and I mean nothing, compares to a tomato just picked from the vine. While you can certainly make many great dishes with canned tomatoes, canned tomato sauce and canned tomato paste, there are some dishes that really only taste good with perfectly ripe tomatoes right off the vine, including Caprese salad, gazpacho, and bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches.

Even if you have a small space for a garden – a postage-stamp sized backyard or some pots on a balcony – I recommend that you plant:

1. Tomatoes – Don’t go overboard (which is such a temptation when you’re perusing seed catalogs in the dead of winter or wandering the local garden center in the early spring). Instead, plant one or two of a few varieties. We always like to plant nice, red slicing tomatoes, big yellow tomatoes, red grape tomatoes and small yellow pear tomatoes. Experiment and see what you like. Also, consider planting heirloom tomatoes. Heirlooms not only have great flavor, you can same of the seeds and plant them again next year. Plus, planting heirloom tomatoes helps the many different varities thrive. (One important hint: whatever tomato variety you plant, make sure to move where you plant your tomatoes. Don’t plant them in the exact same spot in your garden as you did last year. That way, you cut down on the chance of soil-born diseases.)

2. Herbs – Nothing compares to fresh herbs in cooking. But have you seen how expensive fresh herbs are in the supermarket? And I don’t know about you, but I rarely use all the herbs I buy before they go bad. Instead, plant some herbs in your garden. Before you plant, think about what herbs you use in your cooking. For us, we use a lot of basil, flat leaf parsley and cilantro, so that is what we have in the garden. For you it might be rosemary and thyme. Look through your favorite recipes and decide what you would love to cook with, then plant those herbs.

That’s it. Of course, you can grow a larger garden: corn, zucchini, peppers, and more. But for the most bang for your gardening time and acreage, at least plant tomatoes and herbs. You’ll thank yourself.