Author(s): Clive Blazey

Gardening

This is a gardener's ecological guide to growing heirloom vegetables, and also articulates related matters such as climate change, organics and the positive effects that growing any of your own food has on reducing carbon emissions. As our lives have become so hectic, we have entrusted the growing of our food to market gardens and farmers. This change has destroyed the nutritional quality of our food as food is picked unripe to extend the supermarket shelf-life. Fruit is now sprayed with anti-ripening chemicals. A survey found that what supermarkets euphemistically call fresh food could be nine months old. Heirloom seeds were developed to provide food from the garden direct to the table. Fruit, vegetables and flowers were all inter-planted so that pests never have the upper hand. Vegetables are picked at peak ripeness, enhancing their flavour, nutrition and life-saving anti-oxidants.