Title:
Rise in Food Gardens in US Brings Crop of Questions
for Experts
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
See text below
Text:
Call it "recession gardening" or a product of the
local foods movement. But, whatever the reason, more
Americans are growing some of their own food. Or at
least they are trying to.
Many need advice from experts like the master
gardeners at the University of Maryland Extension
service. The extension service has launched "Grow It
Eat It." This campaign is a response to what they
call "the huge new demand" for information and help
with home gardens. Master gardeners from throughout
the state are helping less experienced people learn
how to work the land.
Food gardeners can join a network and put their
garden on a map on the extension service Web site.
The goal: one million food gardeners in Maryland
"producing their own affordable, healthy food." The
current count of food gardeners is around five
thousand statewide.
Nationally, sales of garden supplies increased last
year as people started or expanded food gardens.
Sales rose thirty percent at Burpee, a major seller
of seeds.
Shannon Dill is the extension agent for Talbot
County, Maryland. She says the weak economy is not
the only reason people are trying to grow their own
food to save money.
Prices for fruits and vegetables at the store are
up. Shannon Dill finds that growing food at home
usually costs less than buying it at stores or
restaurants. She also finds that people seem to be
staying home more, so they have more time to work in
the garden. And, she says, "People like to know
where their food is coming from."
But sometimes people choose the wrong plants for the
local growing conditions. Or they plant at the wrong
time. Or they plant seeds too close together or in
poor soil or without enough daily sunlight. Master
gardeners can help people avoid mistakes.
Nancy Garrison started the first master gardener
program in Santa Clara County, California, almost
thirty years ago. She says organic material such as
leaf mulch, also called leaf mold, can almost always
improve poor soil. Once the soil is improved, she
says, then "worms can do a lot of your work for
you."
A vegetable garden in front of a house may not seem
unusual in rural areas. But a lawyer who lives in
suburban Maryland, outside Washington, grew squash,
cucumbers and tomatoes on his front lawn last year.
How did his neighbors react? He says many of them
congratulated him on his garden.
And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture
Report.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
