Throughout my many decades of gardening, I have invented methods to put my signature on our little patch of backyard earth. It started back in the forties when I was seven; I planted a tomato seed in the alley behind our house, and up it came. My Croatian grandfather gave me old cigarette butts, swearing tobacco was just the thing to really get it going. It flourished, and I was hooked on gardening.
A true gardener must take off the gloves and forget about the fingernails. You are going to get dirty. I work in a little kitchen compost with a trowel and pepper it with Miracle-Gro.
I have always liked to bring back seeds from anywhere. Sweet William popped up from Scotland, edelweiss and Alpine Columbine from Interlaken. Can you imagine the excitement that comes from being the only one on your block with the fabled edelweiss? What a disappointment that turned out to be! They wrote a song about this scruffy, off-white furry plant? Unfortunately, the lemon-scented bottlebrush seeds from Sydney died on the kitchen windowsill, and never made it outside. So much for Down Under.
Speaking of the windowsill, for the true gardening experience, you must be there in the beginning and start your garden by seed indoors. Anyone can buy plants. Your family might complain about your crowded windowsills, but remind them it’s seasonal.
I also like to grow something different – just to see if it grows. Some of my winners were “Hasta La Pasta” squash and an unrecognizable parsnip. I am about to try an entity called The Kale Walking Stick. I saw it in a catalogue. It grows 1.8 metres straight up and then explodes into a massive kale plant. It might be a winner.
Try a few non-edible plants like gourds. Varnish them and arrange them in a bowl for a great fall centrepiece.
Lest your garden be a backyard slam-dunk, we have an enemies list to spice things up. I sort them into three groups: legs with some cognitive powers, mold, and disease.
In the first category, I place the ferocious bunnies that sit on their hind legs and dare us with their joie-de-vivre demeanor. Their favourite meal consists of hostas and emerging flowers. They have been known to devour carrots to the soil. I like to think the joke’s on them as they leave the best part underground. In the end, I finally bested them by planting my lettuce in a hanging basket.
I have trouble with mold attacking my zinnias, and any vine vegetable. I fight this by buying treated seeds (with who knows what) and spacing out the zinnias. Disease turns my beans into lace. Haven’t figured this one out yet.
Let the children and grandchildren help with “their garden.” What is more fun than two-metre sunflowers and huge pumpkins? I like to let in a little whimsy with leprechauns and gnomes… especially the solar-powered ones. The kids love the watermelons; never mind that they are totally white inside.
Don’t tidy up the garden for winter. Leave some of these dying plants to reseed in the fall. An errant cosmos can add a dollop of colour to any greenery.
Marigolds, asters and snapdragons are some of the gems that reseed themselves. I love to watch the spring parade of perennials: crocuses, daffodils, tulips, iris and lilies. Like contestants in a beauty contest, they march in one after the other.
Herb plants can be stuck anywhere. Beware: mint and lemon balm can take over your garden. Lavender, thyme and lemon balm come up year after year, while basil and rosemary are annuals in many areas. I had a low Japanese maple with herb plantings underneath – green against the red. Alas, it did not survive the winter.
It pays to take extra time to plant a variety of pots. When things die out in the garden – and they will – a pot of petunias or geraniums fills in instantly. Last year my grown children gave me a pond. Its adjustable fountain completes my garden triad: sight, smell and sound.
Finally, don’t keep colouring within the lines. Nature doesn’t.
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