Oases are what they are, but the desert around them makes us perceive them as lavish. We live in a universe of mental oases and we do not give things the value they have, but the value we would like them to have.

As in the good times of the old agrarian relations, the Regional Department of Agriculture of the Valencian government offers a deal to the land labourers interested in preserving diversity in the field: traditional horticultural seeds in exchange for information.

If you want to create your own vegetable garden, the Educational Unit of the Botanical Garden of the University of Valencia offers some advice on how to start it.

Cabanyal Horta «When I lived in Valencia I used to go to the beach with the electric train from the station in Pont de Fusta (the Wooden Bridge). I had to go across the gardens [“Horta” in Catalan], which at that time was already beginning

When we keep and sow seeds of those plants we are more satisfied with, we are improving cultivation while pushing for our interests, as our ancestors used to do.

Courgettes are easy to cultivate in the garden: they are rustic and grow fast, and they only need light and heat. Therefore, we will sow them when the risk of frost has passed.

The modest potato is a tuber of great nutritional value and it should be grown in our garden at least once in a while. Although we would need a big vegetable garden (30 to 50 square metres) in order to meet the needs of a

Picking unripe tomatoes may be good for producers, but poses a problem for consumers.

Having a vegetable plot or an allotment returns to us an almost forgotten right: the right to grow our own food and to serve up our family’s own home-grown produce.