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Gardening

Gardening

Date: Sep 12 2008

Themes: Food, Hobbies

Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

There’s something amazing about planting seeds and watching them grow. And something even more amazing about it if you can eat what’s growing!

For a lot of people in our modern world, it’s easy to forget that food comes from the ground. But it can very enjoyable to grow some of your own food in whatever little space you can find. Plus, Mason and Marni agree that it tastes better too!

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Marni

Marni

Mason

Mason

Marni:  So did you enjoy those zucchini that I brought?

Mason:  I totally did. Did you grow those yourself?

Marni:  I did, yes.

Mason:  It tastes so much better, right?

Marni:  It really does. I’m just all about…well, I’m a pretty low maintenance gardener. I plant it. I water it occasionally. I hope for the best.

Mason:  Yeah? Because I’ve been going green thumb crazy with stuff. It started out with some potted things on the balcony and we just recently built a whole square-foot garden in the back yard.

Marni:  Yes, very nice.

Mason:  Do you know the square-foot garden thing? The SFG?

Marni:  Do tell.

Mason:  It’s just kind of a layman’s thing, you know, and it’s creating grids, right, foot by foot, and they tell you how kinds of x plant you can put in each grid. It’s just, you know, an idiot’s guide to gardening, but it seems work pretty well.

Marni:  And just maximizing your space, it sounds like. You know, living in a city you just want to get the most bang for your buck.

Mason:  Right.

Marni:  And what about the community garden thing? That’s pretty cool if you don’t have your own space. Do you know anybody who participates in community gardening?

Mason:  I don’t know anyone who does gardening communally. I know a lot of people who subscribe to those services where they contact a farm and then once a week they get a basket of farm fresh groceries and it’s whatever they were able to grow.

Marni:  I’m just, yeah, wondering about actually participating in the growing process.

Mason:  That’s something worth looking into.

Marni:  It’s gardening. It’s good.

 

Quizzes

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Discussion

Marni brought Mason some zucchini from her garden. He said it tasted really good and that he’s been into gardening lately too. He started with pots and has since moved on to a small garden divided into square feet to help him figure out how much to plant.

Some neighborhoods have community gardens where you can work with the people around you to grow some food. Mason also has friends who subscribe to a service that brings them freshly grown produce from nearby small farms. But he and Marni are interested in looking into community gardening to grow more of their own food.

Do you grow any of your own food? Are there community gardens where you live?

 

Comments

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DricaBr

DricaBr

Brazil

I live in an apartament, so I don’t have to much space to have a garden. I have few plants including a cactus that grew so much, and I don’t know where to place it.

07:04 PM Sep 18 2008 |

liuxudong

liuxudong

China

SmileCoolI would rather like eating gourd , pumpkin ,vegetables or other vegeterian foods than meat.I am mostly to be a vegeterion.I stick to my opinion that plant's food can bring health to humans.You can eat the meat occasionlly,do not eat too much meat or it's harmful to yourself.

You should take a few strolls after launch,100 more steps that live to be 99.

The plluted weather and the disgusting noise shortens your heart of a life.Living in a courtryside place was my desirable paradise.there's no cars no desity people.

Yucky school foods,esp.the teacher's presure makes me crazy.I wanna suck the nature' s zyphr air.or have a feast in the courtryside within go on a picnic.


12:44 PM Sep 17 2008 |

liuxudong

liuxudong

China

SmileCoolI would rather like eating gourd , pumpkin ,vegetables or other vegeterian foods than meat.I am mostly to be a vegeterion.I stick to my opinion that plant's food can bring health to humans.You can eat the meat occasionlly,do not eat too much meat or it's harmful to yourself.

You should take a few strolls after launch,100 more steps that live to be 99.

The plluted weather and the disgusting noise shortens your heart of a life.Living in a courtryside place was my desirable paradise.there's no cars no desity people.

Yucky school foods,esp.the teacher's presure makes me crazy.I wanna suck the nature' s zyphr air.or have a feast in the courtryside within go on a picnic.

 

 

12:40 PM Sep 17 2008 |

liuxudong

liuxudong

China

SmileCoolI would rather like eating gourd , pumpkin ,vegetables or other vegeterian foods than meat.I am mostly to be a vegeterion.I stick to my opinion that plant's food can bring health to humans.You can eat the meat occasionlly,do not eat too much meat or it's harmful to yourself.

You should take a few strolls after launch,100 more steps that live to be 99.

The plluted weather and the disgusting noise shortens your heart of a life.Living in a courtryside place was my desirable paradise.there's no cars no desity people.

Yucky school foods,esp.the teacher's presure makes me crazy.I wanna suck the nature' s zyphr air.or have a feast in the courtryside within go on a picnic.

 

 

12:40 PM Sep 17 2008 |

malegal

malegal

China

Yeah, we do a lot of gardening here in China. Even a lazy guy like me who lives in the city does. I "GROW" a garlic plant in my balcony,and I every so often water it by well, peeing into the pot. LOL.

Yeah, when some friend comes around and eat dumplings or sth, I may pull the damn plant out and let him have the garlic root to go with his vinegar and food… that'd be cool,right?

05:27 PM Sep 15 2008 |

qian ma

China

Would you like to tell me how to store it

05:23 AM Sep 15 2008 |

djoudjou

Morocco

sobhana allah,

the GOD who creat all thing

01:33 AM Sep 15 2008 |

*zozo

*zozo

Saudi Arabia

i can't be more agree .coz my grand mother used to farm vegetables, friuts, make her own malk ,& chees. i remeber it teast prttey good .besiades her coocking was always delicaousSmile 

06:15 PM Sep 14 2008 |

Saisunee

Saisunee

Thailand

i t to give this lesson 5 stars
i like to plant
i love sunflower

01:16 PM Sep 14 2008 |

K L

K L

Myanmar

yeap , this is the pretty job for everybody that it also help our physical excises so that we can get both physically and mentally healthy.I like gardening so much coz my grandpa is a good gardener and he teachs and guides me how to plant and grow the various of vegetables.now i got a lot of experinces and i did gardening practically in my small garden.how great this is that i feel so much looking the growing of vegetable plants in my own garden.

03:53 PM Sep 13 2008 |

addud

addud

Indonesia

gardening sounds good 

03:46 PM Sep 13 2008 |

Hannah Montana

Russian Federation

beach

02:38 PM Sep 13 2008 |

Hannah Montana

Russian Federation

beach

02:38 PM Sep 13 2008 |

609366027

China

I dont grow any vegetable in my garden , so does my parents ,  we think it  make me tired so much,

01:56 PM Sep 13 2008 |

marjan.flower

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

hi all
i think its very wonderful that we can grows flower and vegtable in garden
i like it very much .i like live in a farm and i can grow all of things that i like,like narcis ,roses ,and sunflwer,and natural vegetable.its very interesting.

01:14 PM Sep 13 2008 |

scaredy-cat

United Arab Emirates

it is really something worth looking in to. we should all getting involve in this. Most of the people don't have time to do such great things they have their own business that keep them busy all the day & I’m one of them but we have to arrange our schedule & do gardening things we will not only enjoy and eat wat we r growing but we also will save our plant and environment from the pollution that results from cars and factories. i really appreciate who put this topic & i want to say keep going good luck for u all on gardening thingsWink 

 

07:42 AM Sep 13 2008 |

sunnybutlonelyday

China

Ilove gardening very much , but i have no time to do that . I feel the product you plant tastes the best

 

 

04:59 PM Sep 12 2008 |

Totto

Totto

Sudan

 

    Samjj it is always better and healthier to eat something that is free of chemical and grows naturally without any fertilizers. You know what kind of diseases those overfertilized vegetables can cause?  Diseases like Cancer and kidney diseases. 

    It is sometimes better and more fun to grow some vegetables in someone's garden, but a lot of people find it so hard to do so, because they have never planted a plant before, and they don't have any idea how.  I am one of those people, but I will try and learn, for it is always good to eat something that someone has grown himself. Something that is free of chemical.   Smile( you know what I am saying.)

04:08 PM Sep 12 2008 |

samjj

samjj

Malaysia

Yes, I do agree vegetables taste sweeter if they are home grown. They taste sweet because we fertilise them well. I can always tell the difference between home grown vegetables and those which are grown in the farm ….

12:32 PM Sep 12 2008 |

ruth asafu - adjaye

Ghana

i do have a backyard garden and to tell u the truth it saves money..

 

12:17 PM Sep 12 2008 |

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