Photo: Inger Ekrem, Riksförbundet Svensk Trädgård.
In Sweden the sales of vegetable seeds have now outstripped those for flowers by a considerable margin and magazines are full of advice on how to set up your own plantation. In urban areas waiting lists for allotments are bursting with names of people who can’t wait to put their hands in the soil.
Apart from being fun, I think there are several reasons for this reawakened interest.
Cities are proud beings, not looking to others for help, yet so totally helpless without the surrounding world providing them with food and energy. When I last year interviewed Rosie Boycott, who is appointed by London’s mayor as head of the London Food Board, she told me London has a food stock enough for three days’ consumption. I suspect the situation is similar in most cities allover the world. We are enormously dependant on transports for our food to reach us.
Parsley, tomato and squash plants in my window.
Many have also started to think about how dependant food production is on cheap energy, especially oil, for running tractors, making fertilizers, pesticides and so on. That, together with the fact that oil reserves won’t last forever (what is also known as Peak Oil) leads to the conclusion that more of our food has to be produced closer to where it is consumed, in less energy-demanding ways. And how could anything be more local than homegrown vegetables?
After wanting to grow things but not having come to the action part of it, I have finally realised that growing together with others is by far the best and most enjoyable way to do it. Recently I started in a study circle with other interested at a local garden assoication which has kindly let us a piece of their land. Measuring, digging and weeding is something entirely different if you can chat to nice people while doing it. And it all goes so much faster.
The actual planting will have to wait though, but in the meantime I have started growing squash, tomato and parsley in my windowsill and will let you follow the progress of my gardening attempts this summer.
