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Dr. Dirt

November-December 2009

Landscape Gardening

–how to make money while vegetating next summer–

A huge area of landscape growth in the past two years, and very likely into the future, is the home vegetable garden. Across the country, and fairly suddenly, people have moved en masse back to the garden. Stores sold out of vegetable seeds this past spring, then the seed companies sold out. Community gardens sprang up like bean sprouts, and some had waiting lists for a small garden plot. Schools at all levels actively encouraged campus gardens for their students. Paul James, I heard from highly uninformed sources, was called back to the White House to tend the Obamas' vegetable garden.

In part, the flood of vegetable gardens is a result of a stagnant economy and financial drought on the home front. But more than that, the home gardener has direct control over the food produced. There has been an increasing demand (and price) for organic produce, for foods without pesticides or additives, for fresh food over processed food, for local food over food shipped thousands of miles. All this is easily available (well, with a bit of work) to the home gardener by growing his/her own.

And a deeper human appeal is simply that of getting out into nature on a more frequent basis, soaking up sunlight, synthesizing Vitamin D, doing a little physical work, working alongside children or spouse in a common venture. And it can be an absolute adventure when you factor in eight weeks of rain and cold weather, a plethora of plant plagues, followed by Miami Beach heat and humidity. And then the joy of harvest, and the agony of zucchini.

But all in all, the new gardeners that I talked with this summer were amazed to return to second grade, where we all got to stick a seed in the ground and watch the miracle of life germinate, shoot up, flower, and fruit. Vegetable gardening, or any gardening, is something of an ongoing miracle, and accentuates the intimate connection between humans and the environment on a very hands-on and personal basis. On a fundamental level it can reconnect us to our evolutionary past.

A step beyond the standard home vegetable garden is permaculture, a system of landscape management focused on the needs and the long-term health of humans and the ecosystem. Home (and in some cases community) landscapes are designed to mimic native ecosystem structure and function, while supplying food, fiber and energy, and providing a common uniting principle for the human group involved. (Permaculture would be a great topic for the Newsletter, if some practitioner out there wants to respond. And I've heard through the native grapevine that a permaculture course, with certification, will be offered in New Hampshire next summer by two of the leading proponents in New England.)

My belaboring of home gardening and permaculture is to point out a trend that a landscape designer, contractor, or maintainer might well use in his/her business. How many have been asked to rototill a section of lawn this year to prepare a garden site, or build a set of raised beds? It's another niche, another area of expertise to add to your portfolio. And it's ultimately good for the planet. But know what you're doing. I've seen vegetables being grown in city soils with high lead content, and in raised beds built of chromated copper arsenate 2x10s. Yum. Or located in the shade, becoming a good resource for your child's fungus project at school. Once again, education of yourself and the client is critical. That's why you're a member of NHLA. r

After the last three months discussing Collapse, Dr. Dirt was asked (by John Hart, Professor of Horticultural Technology, Thompson School of Applied Science, University of New Hampshire, Durham) to remind the reader that not all human effects on the environment are negative.