HAWAI'I GARDENS
Count the reasons why you should grow your own food

By Heidi Bornhorst

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A. It's a great idea for several reasons. First, when you buy from a store, you never can be sure about pesticides, especially with foreign produce. When I was an apprentice gardener at the Royal Horticultural Society garden at Wisley, England, many years ago, it blew my mind that there in the plant sales center, right on the shelf, were products with DDT, chlordane and other pesticides long banned or restricted in the United States. Who knows what gets sprayed on in other countries?

When you grow your own food, you know exactly what chemicals went into them.

You also may have such an abundance that you can share with friends, family and neighbors. What a community-building activity!

As a member of the Garden Writers of America, I recently got a mailing from the National Gardening Bureau. The organization is encouraging people to grow food gardens.

During World War II, 40 percent of fresh produce was produced by "victory gardens." Now there is a project called "Plant A Row for the Hungry," where you share your abundance with a shelter for the homeless or soup kitchen.

We have small gardens in Hawai'i, so make the most and best use of your space, capturing the most sun that you can for your edible garden. Most flowering and fruiting plants need the maximum amount of sunlight to grow well and produce edible bounty.

Here are a few simple sustainable gardening tips:

• Make wide beds rather than rows. Three feet is generally good, but if you're a short girl like me, make it narrower, or wider if you have longer arms. Beds are good also because you can add rich compost and mulch to increase soil productivity. They also make for a neat look in your garden.
• Plant taller crops, such as corn or pole beans, in the back and shorter ones in the front. This way, your garden has an attractive design, can be easily cared for and harvested, and makes the best use of the sun. Plants from seeds are easier and often tougher (thanks to their better root systems) than transplants, and can save a whole step in the gardening process.
• The National Gardening Bureau recommends "new" crops such as bok choy, Japanese eggplant, jalapeno and other spicy peppers, and herbs such as Thai basil, Mexican mint marigold and cilantro (also known as Chinese parsley).

In a sense, we are on the cutting edge of this gardening trend because we grow these crops very well already! Some of the easiest edible plants to grow are arugula, beans, peas, radishes, cherry tomatoes, beets and corn.