Gardening

Gardening

by Nfidel | Published on November 10th, 2009, 12:58 pm | Food

With all the writing at Greensboring about food, does no one grow their own, food that is? Am I the only gardener on the board?

I've been gardening since the first summer I moved to my present location, probably around 17 years ago. One day a local pot head came over and asked if he could trade some tractor work for... well anyway he plowed part of my yard that night. (Several locals at the time were driving tractors and riding mowers as their only legal means of motor assisted transportation. Now those types ride scooters.) I knew nothing about gardening but got advice from neighbors and from where ever I bought seed and plants.

It's a rewarding pastime. I eat the end result; the work, except in the hotter months, is soothing to the psyche; some, if not all vegetables, taste much better when eaten at full ripeness; one can grow vegetables that have not been bred for shipping and shelf life but for taste; one can control the amount of pesticide and fertilizer used on the plants.

In our area one can grow and/or harvest in all but the coldest of months. In fact, I'll be eating Brussels's Sprouts probably in January and will be planting spring vegetables by early March. Today I'm going to eat raw, sliced turnips will a little salt and later I'll be cooking a big pot of mixed greens.

This photo is last Thursday's harvest. Today it was much the same.

My dad was a very serious gardener. His life revolved around his vegetable patch and his flower beds. It seemed to be an English thing....

But I never caught on much to it. Oh, I managed to do a creditable job once when he was incapacitated with back problems one year. But I never really cared to get into it. Now HOPOMaster... he enjoys garden stuff. I expect wen he gets his own place, he'll grow a lot of food and flowers. But he's still in the whole apartment scene right now.

I gave up on gardening, between the deer, squirrels, early and late frosts there didn't seem much point. If after many hours of work and fencing I did manage to get a crop I could always get better quality fresh produce at the farmer's market.

I do sometimes find a crop of wild strawberries, cranberries, gooseberries and raspberries if I can beat the bears and birds to them.

I mostly grow spruce, pine and aspen.

Shannon has tried every year since we've moved back here... Can't get anything to grow. Even if it does grow, somewhere in the middle it stops and shrivels up... it's rather sad...

Though I must blame it on our abundance of trees, which doesn't provide us with too much shade...

SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:My dad was a very serious gardener. His life revolved around his vegetable patch and his flower beds. It seemed to be an English thing....

I'm not that into it but I've seen through film and TV that the British do seem almost obsessed with their gardens. I wonder if this has carried over from the time of the victory gardens? I get the feeling that it's older still.

But I never caught on much to it. Oh, I managed to do a creditable job once when he was incapacitated with back problems one year. But I never really cared to get into it. Now HOPOMaster... he enjoys garden stuff. I expect wen he gets his own place, he'll grow a lot of food and flowers. But he's still in the whole apartment scene right now.

I'm sure your Dad appreciated the effort you put into the garden. Like any hobby, some are going to enjoy it and others will be disinterested or even despise it, especially if it involves labor. My son had an interest in gardening for a few years. I think he's found more interesting pursuits for now though. I hope HOPOMaster gets him a little plot of land one day soon.

A Person wrote:I gave up on gardening, between the deer, squirrels, early and late frosts there didn't seem much point. If after many hours of work and fencing I did manage to get a crop I could always get better quality fresh produce at the farmer's market.

It's only been recently that deer have given me problems. The other night I had to chase off a group of them. The bastards like to eat the tops of the carrots. And yes I suppose you can good quality vegetables at a farmers' market. Some vegetables, but not many, taste the same from my garden than from the grocery store. Others, like tomatoes, bell peppers (especially when you allow them the time to ripen to deep red), corn and squash (hey, those are all crops originating in the Americas), if grown correctly A Person, can taste much better when home grown.

This causes me to wonder if we really know how a tree ripened banana tastes.

I do sometimes find a crop of wild strawberries, cranberries, gooseberries and raspberries if I can beat the bears and birds to them.

I too have been a gatherer. Around here we have muscadines and black berries.

Liv wrote:Shannon has tried every year since we've moved back here... Can't get anything to grow. Even if it does grow, somewhere in the middle it stops and shrivels up... it's rather sad...

Though I must blame it on our abundance of trees, which doesn't provide us with too much shade...

Yeah, most crops require lots of sunlight. It's kind of useless to plant most of them in the shade. One thing to consider would be a raised bed somewhere in the yard that does receive sunlight. A raised bed garden would be much easier to work, would be a good project for you to build and would be fun, educational and tasty for the kids. Start out small to see how well you'll like it and expand if needed.

Well, technically the trees need to be cut down, they're cutting into our foundation.... but they're so darn close to the house, I'm rather fearful of doing so myself, and it's cost prohibitive right now for me to hire someone....

Eventually we'll get them down, but I have a strict "no chainsaw policy" while Liv lacks health insurance.

Liv wrote:
Eventually we'll get them down, but I have a strict "no chainsaw policy" while Liv lacks health insurance.

Probably a wise decision. I have the same rule with motorcycles, skates and most anything fun. I can't wait until I'm insured once again. I'd like to combine skydiving and sword swallowing.

Yes, it's always nice to know if you dismember yourself, and can still find your arm... that you can get re-attached. Being uninsured sucks.