The Daily Dirt is a new eResource to help backyard gardeners swap scrolling time for digging time. Sometimes you just need a quick answer to a simple question, and other times, you want to relax with a cup of tea and peruse what new tomato varieties are out there. From the latest developments in the gardening world, to tips and advice on seasonal tasks, the Daily Dirt has you covered! Can you dig it?
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Kate Ziehm
Gardening is about growth, outer and inner. Nothing soothes, problem solves, or puts things in perspective like digging in the dirt. It gets us out of our heads and into life. This is a great activity to nurture in our kids. Growing food to feed ourselves is universal…and beauty, well, it makes life sweet in the form of homegrown flowers on the kitchen table!
I grew up helping my mother with her flower beds and picking potato bugs in my aunt’s backyard garden. As a child, I found great joy in picking my way through the pumpkin patch to uncover the biggest pumpkin. Today, I love caring for my rosebushes and growing zinnias up our front walkway.
Happy gardening!
Brittany Jenks
My dad grew vegetables when I was a kid, and that’s where I first fell in love with gardening. He always included me in the garden — but never made the garden a chore. It was always something fun: digging potatoes, picking blueberries, slicing into a fresh melon. My grandma also had a huge garden, and we would always go outside to see what new things were growing, sprouting, and flowering. Something was always changing, there was always something new growing — or something new to eat! The smell of tomato plants in spring, the dirt after a rain, the fresh scent of early morning air: that’s home to me. When I purchased property with my husband, the outside of the house was more important than the inside! Now I’ve got a huge garden, a small orchard, a woodlot and lots of flowers of my own. And I hope to give my young son the gardening bug too!
Elisa Mussi
I grew up with gardens all around me. Whether they were food or flowers, I was helping dig and pick. Still to this day, now with my husband and kids, we do the same. We even have hydroponic herbs growing in our kitchen! There is nothing like fresh parsley and basil!
Every year we get our dirt beds ready for a round of new crops that will give us unknowingly amounts of good fresh food that we cannot wait to sink our teeth into. Some years I am overwhelmed with making marinara and other years I pickle the whole garden!
Growing our own food has brought us lots of joy and has taught our children the importance of fresh food that is grown at home. The more gardens this world has, the better the world will be!
Christa Campbell
When I was a kid, we moved to the country from New Jersey so my parents decided they had always wanted a garden to grow their own vegetables. It started out very small and within a few years was the entire length of the side yard! We all pitched in to lend a hand. Planting, weeding, watering and the excitement of the season end with bountiful fresh veggies! Growing up, I wanted more than vegetables, I wanted the simple yet classic beauty of spring, summer, fall and winter where I can take in each and every season. So, I said that “when I build my own house, I will have gardens EVERYWHERE!”
Well, I made good on that promise, and now after living at my home for nearly 17 years, I have turned every ounce of earth around my home into a “special” garden in some capacity. From a butterfly garden to a rock garden and everything in-between. The excitement of the very first plant to peek out from the long winter to trimming down the final life of a flower and digging up the end of season bulbs for a long winter’s nap.
