Homegrown: Scarborough man plants seeds for more backyard gardens

[jpak]

http://www.bangordailynews.com/news/t/lifestyle.aspx?articleid=150150&zoneid=14

During World War II, the government urged Americans to plant "victory gardens," backyard plots of fruits and vegetables that were supposed to ease reliance on the war-strained public food supply.

Today, Roger Doiron of Scarborough is repeating that call, this time to ease the strain of industrial agriculture on the environment and help people take control of what they eat.

"In a way, I’d say I’m trying to reinvent the suburbs and put food back on the suburban landscape," says Doiron, a freelance writer and consultant who grows vegetables, blueberries, strawberries, apples, cranberries and herbs on his third-of-an-acre lot.

Around the country, people from Maine to California are spreading the word about the benefits of gardens in what some are calling a "grass-roots gardening movement."

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[Javaman]

1. The amazing part about the WWII victory gardens is...

they provided 40% of all the produce in the U.S. at that time.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Realistically, do we have as much backyard to grow more than

a week's worth of produce at a time?

[tridim]

3. I have a 6'x6' garden and grow all the tomatoes, strawberries and herbs I need for the year.

The problems will most likely arise from the various Nazi homeowner associations.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. The HOA's are not turning out to be a good governance for the

public. They should have restricted it to condominiums.

But, I wonder if I have a 6x6 patch of land that is free of garden chemicals.

[kestrel91316]

5. Read Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. You'd be amazed.

[notadmblnd]

6. it doesn't have to be a square plot in the middle of the back yard

My garden goes along the length of the driveway. Normally, grass and weeds would be growing there; but this year I have two rows each of corn & green beans, a row of carrots, beets, onions, two tomato plants, two cucumber,two squash and about 4 pepper plants. Also some herbs, peppermint, cilantro, dill. It's a space about 3ft by 120ft. We did it last year on a smaller scale and had more than plenty for my family. this year I'm sure we'll be sharing with our neighbors.

[formercia]

7. When I worked in DC

I didn't have anything except a small fenced-in slab of a patio. I went down to the dept. store and bought some cheap laundry baskets, large trash bags and a sack of topsoil for each basket. Punched a few holes in the trash bags for drainage, put them in the baskets and added the topsoil. With 7 baskets, I grew all the veggies I needed, in season.