SUZANNE TATE: Even Smallest Of Gardens Can Teach Large Lessons

In the middle of a long and rainy winter, it just feels good to get garden catalogs in the mail. It’s spring and summer in all its glossy glory.

For at least 15 years I’ve been an eager subscriber to various garden catalogs – Burpee, Stark Brothers’, White Flower Farm and others. The Stark catalog turned up in the mailbox Thursday, the cover bearing a photograph of a man holding a girl aloft so she can pick an apple.

It’s the homespun nature of these catalogs that draws readers, including me. I’m certain many people who have never pruned a berry bush or planted a peach tree still peruse the pages while imagining the perfect garden – if time, money, sunshine and amended soil were never an issue.

I was blessed to grow up in a family that always raised a large garden, even though I didn’t always appreciate it at the time. My father was raised on a farm in central North Carolina and has raised a garden every year of his life. We fed ourselves, our neighborhood, our church, our school friends and anyone who crossed our paths with a steady bounty of vegetables faithfully tended by our family.

But it wasn’t all Norman Rockwell togetherness, to be sure. It was sweaty work to till and weed and water and work. And in July in Norfolk, you cannot find a child who will willingly work outside. That’s where parental, um, coercion came in.

My brother and I honestly loved most of the vegetables we raised, except for squash (him) and raw tomatoes (me). Please don’t write and tell me how a homegrown tomato is the height of garden perfection. I know this. I have been told my entire life. They are beautiful, healthy and a near perfect food. I love tomatoes in every way they can be fixed, except sliced and raw. Please cut me some slack on this one. I love every other vegetable and fruit I’ve ever eaten, from eggplant to okra to zucchini.

My brother and I grew up eating organic food long before the term was popular. We knew where it came from, how it grew, what had been put on it (or not).

I want my own children to have some of those lessons, so we are planning a small container garden for spring. We have little space at our townhouse, but I am confident I can teach them how to grow some basics in a small area.

We obviously don’t have space for planting berry bushes or apple trees from the Stark catalog, but we aim to have more of a kitchen garden of favorites.

The kids have helped plant basil from seed before and want to grow more herbs to add to various dishes. I think this is an exciting way to get them interested in how to plant and grow seeds and see the results of their work. We likely will pick a variety of favorite herbs to plant together in a large pot. Anyone wanting to do this needs only a sunny window to try.

My daughter especially loves cucumbers, so I know it will make the list of vegetables for our container garden. Also easy, and quick, to grow are lettuces or spinach. We may wind up with a “salad garden” of lettuce, cukes, a couple of Roma tomato plants and some herbs.

Certainly our growing plans are much smaller than those of my parents or in-laws, who grow famously large vegetable gardens each year. But I’m excited to peruse the colorful catalogs in the colder weather, make plans now for spring and know that my children will learn life lessons from the container gardens outside the door.

And the bounty of the bigger gardens make visiting the grandparents that much more special.

With the financial struggles we all face, planting a garden could be a good exercise in stretching your food dollar, whether it is your first year of gardening, or 50th, or if you plant an acre or a sunny patio.

Suzanne Tate is the opinion page editor at the Bristol Herald Courier. She can be reached at (276) 645-2534 or .