Coastsiders share what they’ve learned growing their own food

The Coastside Edible Garden Club encourages its members to learn where their food comes from, and how to grow it themselves, reports Julia Scott in the County Times.

Growing food on the coast is not always bountiful. Montara’s foggy days and cool nights make growing tomatoes impossible, as O’Brien discovered a few years ago. The couple has eaten fewer tomatoes as a result, allowing their diets to flow with the seasons: Chard and other greens sauteed with garlic in the winter; roasted carrots, potatoes and beets in the fall; baked squash and zucchini in the summer, followed by plump homegrown strawberries for dessert.

Slightly south of Montara, El Granada’s warmer microclimate enables Melinda MacNaughton to grow tomatoes, pumpkins, sunflowers and other warmer-weather crops. The 38-year-old mother, a registered dietitian, joined the Edible Garden Club a year and a half ago with the goal of growing her own nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables.

It’s very enlightening and encouraging. Except the part about tomatoes in Montara. That’s depressing.