TINY GARDENS EVERYWHERE

How the poor have prospered by growing gardens.

In shantytowns and poor urban neighborhoods, ingenuity sprang forth by planting seeds and growing fresh food. It’s a story you may not have heard. But through the centuries, the impoverished, the uneducated, the castaways from society planted various vegetables, fruits, and greens in whatever spaces they had. In contrast, modernization destroyed the soil—insect and microbe communities that form the basis for healthy farming and eating. Brown, an environmental historian, offers a blueprint for the future in this punchy narrative about all manner of urban gardeners in the U.S. and abroad. She weaves from history to present, from the struggles faced by peasants in 18th-century England to the contemporary community gardens she creates alongside neighbors in Washington, D.C. When land ownership shifted to the wealthy in the 19th century, soil depletion became a problem, as did water pollution once societies shifted to flush toilets. The author’s nimble storytelling includes glimpses of how Nazi Germany advocated for purity in race and a return to native plants, considering Jews to be “rootless.” In Brown’s telling, the garden is a vehicle for freedom and self-identification under the most oppressive regimes. America’s Victory Gardens, planted in vacant lots and around residences, produced 40 percent of the nation’s produce in the U.S. in 1944. When the Soviet Union crumbled in the 1990s, small gardeners grew the vast majority of Russia’s potatoes. The harsh seasons led people to pickle and preserve for winter, providing an additional boon to gut health through a fermented diet. The globe needs to cut carbon emissions and find a better way to feed the world’s growing population. Brown’s book shows us that inspiration for a new food system doesn’t have to be so hard.

A riveting social history of the world, as seen through gardens.