When I was a kid I think we had the garden as a supplement to what we could afford to buy, but even if not, it set such a great example. My mother spent many years on a farm, so it came naturally in our large yard in Seattle. For me now, I find it in some ways convenient--what are we eating? Something that uses garlic, onions, herbs, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, chard, whatever. :) If I'm cooking and find I'm out of peppers or carrots or green onions, etc, I head out the side door.

If I wanted to eat less expensively I probably wouldn't have a garden, I could use all of this time for a part time job that pays and could buy the fresh produce at a farmer's market. It's the magic of watching a garden grow and bringing in the food and cooking it and serving it that keeps me gardening.

There's also something else, something I don't hear often, but it is more of the magic. When we moved in here, the yard was weeds and bermuda, the hedge was ugly. I planted a few trees, cut down the hedge, and I put in a veggie garden at the side of the house. At the front end of it, and in the front yard, I dug a couple of areas and I planted seeds for bunches of state fair zinnias (big, multicolored, bloom all season as long as they get water). They were magnificent, and people would remark on them, but the one that really was nice was the woman from two doors up the street that intersects my street. Her mother was barely ambulatory in her last year or two, but she would sit in the driveway looking out at the neighborhood, and her daughter told me a couple of years later that her mother loved watching this yard evolve, and really enjoyed watching those zinnias take hold and present such a wall of color. That is so nice to know!

SRS