Trend watching alert: Salon has not one, but two articles up right now about the resurgence of gardening, particularly urban gardening. One is about the urban gardening trend itself, and one is about the giant organic garden at the White House that Michelle Obama has spearheaded. The explosion of interest in gardening is obviously due to converging trends—-the growing concerns about sustainability and our screwed-up agricultural system, plus an economic collapse that has people thinking long and hard about frugality.
What’s interesting about the trend is that it’s not really certain that growing your own garden is necessarily going to save people money, as Amy Benfer notes. In the 1940s, Eleanor Roosevelt’s push for people to start victory gardens was incredibly effective—-up to 40% of all produce grown in the country was in victory gardens. Numbers like that would make one think that this resurgence would have similar results, but I think a lot fewer people (particularly the political foodie types that generally live in urban centers) have as much space to garden, and collectively, we have a lot less know-how. Of course, if people stick with it for a few years, they’ll learn what works and what doesn’t, and it will start to save them money. Of course, that requires staying put for long periods of time, which is also not so easy for modern urbanites.
Still, even if this is only a minor savings or a wash for a lot of people starting out, I still think that this trend is overall a good thing for people. First of all, gardening—-even just if you grow your own herbs—-encourages people to cook at home more, which is healthier and cheaper. Plus, it’s a good place to start when it comes to finding ways to eat better overall. Even with Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman out there telling people that good cooking is easy, I think many people are afraid to start doing things like exploring the bulk section at the supermarket. I know I was, but gardening has this psychological effect on you. I dare say it’s a genuine example of empowering yourself.
Just as the people who started victory gardens in the 40s likely had personal memories or even experience with growing their own food, modern Americans aren’t that far away from knowing how to make meals from ingredients that they have to prep themselves. Nowadays, it seems like most chicken comes to you deboned, deskinned, and pre-sliced, but I distinctly remember that chicken in my childhood came to you in whole chickens that you had to dismantle yourself.* (I remember this, because my dad used to entertain us while he was cooking by shoving his hand up the chicken’s butt and dancing it around the counter. We had no respect for the recently departed in the Marcotte household.) The point isn’t that there was something morally pure about that or anything, just that preparing stuff that’s healthier and more sustainable needn’t be so intimidating. If your parents could do it, so can you.