PacificSD - Pacific San Diego Magazine

GROWING TREND
The benefits of organic home gardening
“How you start will determine
whether you continue”
—loren nancarrow, fox five news anchor
H
ealth-minded and socially conscious San Diegans are
following the lead of First Lady Michelle Obama, who in
2009 started an organic vegetable garden on the White
House lawn, the first since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory
garden during World War II.
Kathleen Probus, who teaches vegetable and tomato
gardening classes at Walter Andersen Nursery, says there is substantial
interest in home gardening these days. The reasons she hears include
concern about chemical pesticides, fertilizers and genetically-modified
produce, food allergies and recent E. coli and salmonella scares.
“People want to know where their plants came from and make sure
they’re not feeding their family something harmful,” she says.
Getting started:
sun and soil
Longtime San Diego weatherman and
environmentalist Loren Nancarrow (a Fox
5 San Diego news anchor) has authored
several books on the subject of organic
gardening, branding himself as a local
expert on the subject.
Excited to start his onions this season,
Nancarrow suggests first-time vegetable
gardeners start small, choosing the sunniest
spot on their property.
“How you start will determine whether
you continue,” he says.
He suggests digging out existing soil and
replacing it with nutrient-rich compost,
which is available for about $12 a truckload
at the Miramar Landfill.
“The added benefit is you really don’t
need to add any fertilizer on top of that,
because the compost itself will feed the
plants,” he says. “With chemical fertilizers,
those chemicals go straight to the plant and
they grow beautifully, but the soil becomes
completely worthless—and that’s what’s
happening across America right now.”
Nancarrow suggests purchasing or
constructing a raised bed, and adding drip
irrigation or a recycled soaker hose, so that
water permeates the soil and reaches the
root system.
Probus advises first-time gardeners to
plant vegetables appropriate to the season.
“March is right on the cusp between
the cool season and the hot season,” she
says. “Start with more of the beans and bell
peppers. You can grow some of the earlyseason
tomatoes like Early Girl, San Diego,
Celebrity and Champion, though it’s still a
little early for the larger varieties.”
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