By Fred Guarino
The Lowndes Signal

“Many people do not garden for various reasons, so I wanted to identify some of these reasons and provide ways to overcome them,” Michael Smith, a park guide with the Lowndes Interpretive Center in White Hall said.

Smith presented a “Can you Sustain Yourself? At-Home Gardening Program” at the Lowndes Interpretive Center on Saturday, Feb. 16.

“I wanted to present to attendees a brief history of agriculture in Lowndes country through tenant farming and sharecropping and show some benefits as well as the obstacles of at home gardening,” Smith said.

In a PowerPoint discussion, he pointed out how tenant and sharecropper families had to use methods to sustain themselves since they were largely in debt to land owners in Lowndes County. “Methods included small family gardens that could help the family survive,” he said.

He discussed reasons why Americans choose not to garden at home, like the difficulty of the physical labor, the availability of food items at reasonable prices in stores, and the lack of motivation and time.

“I then proceeded to introduce benefits such as saving money, the ease of use of the right equipment, and the healthy lifestyle that could be achieved as well,” he said.

He wrapped up with a challenge to each to grow one personally desirable vegetable then gave attendees hands on training on how to container garden.

Each participant received a pot with soil and a collard green planted.