Economy's down so kitchen gardens flourish

With its temperate, sun-soaked climate, Los Angeles is prime home-garden territory, so it's little wonder that Marta Teegen, the founder of Homegrown Los Angeles, which offers gardening classes to green-thumbed Angelenos, says her courses are regularly filling up these days.

Surely her packed rosters also have something to do with a smattering of recent news reports about the renewed bloom of the American home garden. With the economy in a slump and gas and food prices riding high, it seems that families feeling the pinch have taken to growing their own vegetables, much like they did with the liberty gardens of World War I and the victory gardens of World War II, as well as during the economic downturns of the '70s and '80s and briefly after Sept. 11.

In May, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the nation's largest mail-order seed company projected that "sales of herb and vegetable plants and seeds might outpace last year by as much as 40% to 50%."

Teegen, who grew up on a farm and started her gardening career helping private chefs plant gardens at their clients' homes, says she expanded her reach to helping citizen gardeners because of the enthusiasm shown by the public.

"People are much more interested in learning how to do it themselves," says Teegen, adding that her most popular class is her "container gardening" class.

"People don't have much space," she says. "But you don't need to have much. You can grow an

amazing salad garden in a 3-by-2 plot — you would have a huge amount of food."

Teegen's ideal salad garden has salad greens; herbs such as chives, fennel and parsley; as well as edible flowers, onions and garlic. The garlic will also "help everything in the mix grow that much stronger," she says.

Tips like that are what distinguish taking a $50, two-hour gardening class with Teegen from checking out a book on gardening from the library. Her classes, which often take place in her studio's garden, are hands-on.

"We might plant a whole salad garden, and veggie starts are available to take home," Teegen says.

She also points out that gardening can be about more than saving money. "I come to this from the point of view of a chef, so for me, having a premium choice of ingredients that are in season is so important. In our climate we can grow year-round here, so it's crazy to see so many houses with giant front lawns that aren't productive."

— Jessica Gelt

Photo of cauliflower provided by Marta Teegen