NATURAL PERSPECTIVES:

The idea of a victory garden started in 1943 when First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt dug up part of the White House lawn and put in some vegetables. With so much of America’s resources going to support our troops during that time of war, growing victory gardens at home was supposed to help the cause and feed America’s families during a time of recession.

Victory gardens were highly successful. According to some sources, 40% of America’s fresh produce was being grown in home victory gardens by the end of WWII. But times changed.

By the 1950s, raising vegetables in the yard gave way to growing and grooming golf-course-quality grassy lawns.

Vic and I think that was a sad turn of events.

To maintain weed-free grassy lawns, homeowners often use herbicides, insecticides and petroleum-derived fertilizers, all of which are bad for the environment.

Furthermore, grassy lawns require a great deal of water — 50 inches a year, about 36 inches more than we get from rainfall in Huntington Beach. That means heavy watering, and that often means runoff of those pesticides and fertilizers into the ocean.

Grass also needs to be mowed. That consumes energy, which, unless you use a push mower, requires gasoline and contributes to global warming.

Vic and I have mostly drought-tolerant plants in our yard, some of them California natives. We also have fruit trees around the perimeter and three vegetable garden areas, all of which get hand-watered when needed, no automatic sprinklers.

Actually, vegetable gardens don’t take all that much water. In fact, Vic and I get by on average with only 4.7 units of water a month. A unit is 100 cubic feet, or 748 gallons.

This means that we’re able to grow our own fruits and vegetables and still use only 3,516 gallons of water a month, about half of what the average household of two people uses.

As part of my effort to inspire others to grow some of their own vegetables and fruits, I considered writing to President Obama, urging him to grow vegetables on the White House lawn.

Apparently I wasn’t the only one with such thoughts. First Lady Michelle Obama broke ground on an organic vegetable and herb garden on the White House south lawn last Friday. Her goals are to interest children and their families in growing their own fresh, local vegetables and eating a healthier diet. The produce will be used by White House chefs and by a Washington D.C. soup kitchen.

I checked out their spring garden plan at www.whitehouse.gov/ assets/documents/ garden_layout.pdf. The First Lady will be growing several kinds of lettuce, spinach, sugar snap peas, shell peas, kale, carrots, collards, chard, rhubarb, broccoli, onions and shallots. Beets would be another good spring crop in that area, but, according to news reports, President Obama doesn’t like them.

In addition to growing vegetables, the Obamas also will be keeping bees for honey. One of their assistant chefs is a beekeeper; I don’t think we’ll see either of the Obamas tending the frames in a beekeeper jumpsuit.

I hope that the first family’s garden will spark a renewed national interest in home gardening. Indeed, the recession seems to be prodding people into digging in the dirt more than ever this spring. Burpee and other seed company spokespersons report a surge in seed sales this year. Some companies have sold out of some varieties of tomato and pepper seeds. This is a good sign that people really are getting back to their roots.

A connection to the earth lies deep in our genes, with 10,000 years of agrarian pursuits as part of our common human background. It is just in the past 100 years that the majority of people have moved away from the soil, getting most of their food from stores. Modern children often have no idea where food comes from, other than the grocery store. A home garden can be very educational for children.

We started taking our twin granddaughters into our garden when they were two years old. I would pick one vegetable at a time for each of them to take into the house. They have proudly carried onions, beets, carrots, lemons and apples over the past year to their Papa Vic. And they love eating sugar snap peas right off the vine. Now they always want to visit our garden to see what is growing.

It’s really easy to get started on a home garden. You’ll be surprised by how much food you can grow in a 4 foot by 8-foot plot, or even a few pots on the balcony or patio. You’ll need some basic tools. A spade, hoe, rake, trowel and hand-weeder are what I consider the essentials.

Properly preparing the soil is the most important thing. I like to dig in a bag of E.G. Stone organic planting compost and a bag of steer manure for every 50 square feet of garden. Then I add E.G. Stone Sure Start organic fertilizer, following package directions.

I like to border my vegetables with marigolds, nasturtiums and allysum, not just to add a bit of color, but to help ward off pest insects and attract beneficial ones. The strong scent of marigolds is said by many organic gardeners to confuse pest insects. Nasturtiums repel cucumber beetles, and the flowers make a beautiful and edible garnish for salads. Allysum attracts hoverflies, which are beneficial. I was pleased to see that First Lady Michelle Obama is growing a similar kind of flower border in her garden. You can search the Internet for other organic garden companion plantings that will attract beneficial insects or repel pest insects.

Vic and I hope that you’ll be inspired to replace some of your lawn with food-producing plants this year. You’ll be helping to ensure your own food security, combating recession, saving water, and getting some good, healthy exercise, all while growing fresh, delicious food.

VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and environmentalists. They can be reached at [email protected].