Flowers Frankie - Food to grow : a simple, no-fail guide to growing your own fruits, vegetables and herbs

M y name may be Frankie Flowers, but Im about more than just growing pretty blooms. In fact, I grew up a marsh mucker. Whats a marsh mucker? The Holland Marsh, which is just north of Toronto, is known for its black soilmarsh muckwhich is perfect for growing vegetables. My family emigrated from England in 1956 to be marsh muckers, and they got their boots and hands dirty in the rich earth of the marsh. My grandfather was a marsh mucker, my father was a marsh mucker, and growing up, I was a marsh mucker too. We raised everything from romaine to Boston lettuce, carrots to parsnips, cabbage to cauliflower, onions to leeks, and pretty much anything in between. A passion for growing food has deep roots in my family.

My dad, Tony

I wanted to write a book about growing food because Ive been doing it my whole life. Ive grown food on a large, commercial scale, and in backyards or pots on a patio. Although Ive been doing it for years, I know that many people are new to the fun of growing their own and literally eating the fruits of their labour. The local-food and organic-food movements have encouraged us to think about where our food comes from and how its produced. But if youre not from a food-producing family, or its been years since youve nurtured a tomato plant, you might need some practical information to get you intoor back intotending vegetables, herbs, and fruits.

My Great Uncle Len in Bradfords Holland Marsh in 1956. They both grew up growing foodand they taught me all about farming.

Growing your own isnt all that hard, and most people, even brand-new gardeners, end up with great results. Still, things can go wrong. My goal with this book is to help you, no matter what you know about soil and sun, take those first steps to becoming a backyard farmerand hopefully get a healthy, bountiful crop even the first year. I will guide you through figuring out why to grow, when to grow, what to grow, and when to harvest. I have suggestions to help you run an environmentally friendly garden that will even look pretty.

Why not? Food gardening gives you control over what you eat. When you garden, you can count the stepsnot the milesyour food took to get to your plate. You will truly know what fertilizer, if any, came in contact with your food, and when or if your lettuce had bugs. You can be sure that those tomatoes were actually vine ripened, because you harvested them right off the vine.

And you get to choose what you eatyoure not limited to the selection at your local grocery store or farmers market. If you adore a certain variety of tomato or want to eat more greens, you have a big range of choices when you buy seeds or seedlings (small plants ready to grow in your garden). If you are interested in heirloom seeds for their historical value, you can give them a try. If you wish to be an organic gardener, you can purchase organic seeds or seedlings and follow organic practices right to harvest. If you want to make jams or pickles, you can grow the ingredients for your canning projects.

Ecologically, growing at home makes sense. Your food will not log hours of travel time that deplete fuel resources. Having a lush garden or growing food on your patio or deck takes carbon dioxide from the air and converts it to oxygen, reducing your homes carbon footprint.

Over time, food gardening can save you money. There are some up-front investments in equipment, such as tools and buying or building beds or containers, and you may spend more on things like soil in the early years. Like any undertaking, gardening comes with costs. Eventually, though, if you become a skilled grower, you can save by growing just what you want to eat and how much of it youll want to eat.

But really, food gardening is about more than these practical concerns. I believe growing your own is an important process that engages the body, the mind, and the heart. Seeing food start from a seed or seedling and grow into a plant is a journey that gives you a strong sense of ownership and pride.