What compels people to grow their own? Read on.

"When tomatoes were pulled from store shelves last summer for fear of salmonella, it was only the latest of a succession of scares that revealed how long the supply chain is for supermarket produce -- and how vulnerable to contamination. Sales of organically grown produce have been on the rise for years, and it's natural to go from buying expensive organic heirloom tomatoes at the farmer's market to wondering if you could grow them yourself cheaper.

"If you grow your own food, you don't need to wonder what pesticide was sprayed on it, or what was in the soil where it was planted, or whether the people who picked it washed their hands. You control all that.

"There also is a growing awareness that trucking fruits and vegetables long distances from farm to distribution center to supermarket to home uses a lot of gas and emits a lot of greenhouse gases.

"The 'locavore' movement, which contends it is most environmentally responsible to eat food grown close to home, leads to a logical conclusion: there's no place more local than your own backyard."