In 1995 I met Lorraine and was MORE than impressed with her green thumb! Lorraine's gardens are a wonder to behold... as you will see... so I decided to take a stab at this gardening thing and put in a tiny vegetable garden while still maintaining the four perennial gardens surrounding the house. (We'll talk about PHLOX in our flower page) I have a spot in the backyard which is fenced in... the previous owners had German Shepherds... and that is where I put my first vegetable garden. The gent that came along to roto-till the wee patch was quite amused by my zeal
and, I believe, seriously wondered what the heck I was doing!
He hit rock after rock and churned little more than clay. After
all, this WAS a dog pen eight years earlier! But I was determined to make this work!
The first year (1997) I planted all kinds of things I was never
going to use! But heck! I figured not much at ALL would grow there! I was experimenting. I learned quite a few things with that first planting, but lo and behold... it ALL GREW! I was thrilled and excited and over-run with parsley!
My second and third year attempting a vegetable garden was GREAT! Aside from horrible little worm-things with horns on their rear-ends going after my tomatoes with great alacrity, the plants were all healthy! Y2K was not happy. Too much rain spolied a lot of the vegetables, but the flowers never looked healthier!
My fondest memories are of my Grandmother's gardens. It always amazed me that even in her seventies, she still kept and maintained the most beautiful gardens. She is the one who inspired me and I enjoy spending hours puttering in the garden.
When I left the farm, I was five years living in the city and that was five years too many! We moved back to the country in 1982, this time to Southern Ontario, and every year since, I've had a vegetable garden. The house we bought was barren of plants except for many trees (too many trees) but the memory of my Grandmother's gardens spurred me on to create a perennial garden. This perennial garden led to another and another and yet another. At last count, there are nine perennial gardens and the big vegetable garden (which has flowers in it). I take great joy in re-arranging the various gardens' layouts and discovering new and unusual plants. (I'm still looking for a Variegated Iris.) I've found all kinds of different and wonderful vegetables that have become regulars at our dinner table... the latest being KOHLRABI. A favorite of the kids are the fruits that we are able to grow, especially the raspberries and strawberries when we pull them out of the freezer in the middle of winter and are able to re-live the flavors of our garden.
I met Debbie in 1995. When she came to visit, we'd end up in the garden, exploring the different plants and always picking weeds. I'd tell her she didn't have to do that, but she insisted! Now she has a garden of her own and never comes to do my weeding anymore! {GRIN}
I have a very special interest in organic gardening and natural living. I use no pesticides or herbicides whatsoever! I am interested in HERBS and plan to do further studies and hope I can share some of my knowledge with you via this web site.
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