Using GPG for encrypting directories

[Paul Jahshan]

Hi all,

I'm rather new to GPG (and to Linux as well) and would appreciate your 
comments/suggestions.

I want to use GPG for local encryption only, and after reading the man 
file, I'm doing the following in order to encrypt a whole directory:

I zip the directory with a password "zip -r -e foo foo", then I encrypt 
it with "gpg -c foo.zip" using a passphrase.

Is this an elegant and secure way of encrypting directories? Am I using 
GPG's full cryptographic power? Are there better alternatives?

Thanks,

Odin