A vegetable garden could help reduce the food bill

Tag : cabbage
Most evenings, usually before the family sits down for dinner,you'll find Francine Creer and four of her children in the backyardof their home on Detroit's northwest side.

They're either removing weeds or gathering lettuce and peppers forthe dinner salad from a plot they call "Matthew's Garden," so namedbecause it was 13-year-old Matthew's idea to start it.

Matthew, you see, got a little tired of his mom telling him shedidn't have money to buy one thing or another that he wanted.

This year marks the Creers' second and bigger garden.

They're among an increasing number of city gardeners, includingmetro Detroiters, growing vegetables for reasons ranging fromreducing food costs and increasing food safety to the simple joy ofwatching something grow and go from the garden to the food table.

Gardens appear to be popping up all over.

No one keeps track of the number or kinds of gardens. Butstatistics from the Detroit Garden Resource Program Collaborative,an information and support network, give an indication based onthose signed up with the program. It reports that from 2005 to 2008the number of family gardens grew from 79 to 220, and the number ofcommunity gardens grew from 80 in 2005 to 115 this year.

But untold numbers of gardens have no connection to the resourceprogram.

Ruth Gretzinger of Ann Arbor, Mich., calls hers a "victory garden,"a tribute to home gardens that were popular during World Wars I andII.

"The idea was we're at war and everything costs too much to buy, sowhy not grow your own," says Gretzinger, a University of Michiganwriter and Web project manager.

She planted less than she'd initially planned, but still hertomatoes, peppers, parsley, oregano and lettuce have put a smalldent in her grocery bill.

"Normally, I would have brought tomatoes at least once a week and Ihaven't had to buy any," says Gretzinger, a single mom with a17-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, who's bound for Central MichiganUniversity this fall. "Every little bit helps. The other night, Imade myself a BLT with my own lettuce and tomatoes and that waspretty nice."

James Smith, 82, turned the land where three houses once stood nearhis Detroit home into a home for collards, string beans, limabeans, Crowder peas, squash, peppers and more. There's enough tofeed the retired Ford worker's 11 adult children, his grandchildren-- he says he has about 30 -- and "I don't know how manygreat-grandkids." And he still has enough to share with neighborsand friends.

"I was raised on a farm and I've always liked it," says Smith, whowas born near Selma, Ala., but has lived in Detroit most of hisadult life. "Where I came from, if you didn't grow food, you didn'teat."

Robin and Steve Reisig have had a garden at their Sylvan Lake homefor several years, primarily to eat healthier.

This year they decided to try something different -- ediblelandscaping. Where grass once grew, there's now an assortment offancily arranged vegetables and herbs, including beets, tomatoesand peppers.

"It wasn't about the cost; it was mainly the quality of the foodand the fun of doing it," Steve Reisig, 59, says. "But eventually,we will probably save money. Some of the tomatoes we're growingcost $3 to $5 each at Whole Foods."

Matthew Creer, 13, says there wasn't one incident that led him tothink of the garden, just what sounded to him like too many "no" or"maybe later" answers. His mom, Francine, has been on disabilitysince she suffered a back injury in 2000 while working as an EMStechnician.

After seeing a big cabbage his sister Suyvann, 11, grew, Matthewgot the idea that maybe he could grow vegetables too. She wonsecond place in a contest for the biggest cabbage at Gesu Schoolabout three years ago.

He learned about gardening by helping out fellow church members ata community garden at Gesu, the nearby parish his family attends.

The garden has become a family project.

They have string beans, radishes, carrots, beets, broccoli,eggplant, varieties of lettuce and tomatoes and more.

"I hardly have to go to the vegetable aisle of the grocery storeanymore," says Francine Creer, 50, who has three adult children inaddition to the four at home. "There's a lot we don't have to buybecause we grow it in our garden."

The savings have enabled the children to go to the movies and acarnival, they say.

And the benefits have grown beyond money, Creer says.

She's found working in the garden together a good way for them toenjoy one another's company.

"There's no TV or video games or computers on when we're in thegarden," Creer says. "They get to talking and I get to listen towhat's going on in their lives."

They enjoy it too. "I like being out there and looking at theplants grow," says Noah, 9.

It's also a good disciplinary tool, Francine Creer says.

"When they start arguing and getting on each other's nerves in thehouse, I say, 'OK, it's time to get outside and get in thegarden."'