Posted to Northwest News Network Wednesday, June 4, 2008
As increasing fuel prices continue to drive up the cost of groceries, some experts are suggesting that home gardening would help many people save on food costs. Others aren’t so sure. Glenn Mosley reports.
The line of thought from many experts goes something like this—prices are going higher in the grocery store, and so to save money the thing to do is grow your own food, in your yard. You’ll save money that way.
Not so fast, say others. Gardening also takes time, resources, and money and may not, in the end, provide an economic alternative to those prices in the supermarket. A fairly significant garden space is needed, they say, to really have an economic impact. <> It’s s topic that has people on both sides talking.
“I think it’s an idea that people have been starting to think about, but what I’m seeing in the media, too, are arguments against it as a cost savings measure.”
Martha Aitken is Washington State University Extension’s Food Sense Program Manager in King County. She says there are definite health benefits to home gardening:
“If you’re gardening, you’ve got fresh produce. If you’re choosing to garden organically, then you have produce without any sort of pesticides or anything like that.”
Aitken says there are other ways home gardening can help a family—more targeted gardening, for example, and growing just lettuce or other fruits or vegetables that you eat all the time. And, she says, community gardens can provide more space than you might get at home.
I’m Glenn Mosley.
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