Right in the Middle
It’s mid-June. Mid-gardening season. And I’ve posted a few things already so I’ll introduce myself here in the middle. But I’m sure it won’t be the middle for long.
Six years ago I bought a house in Vancouver, BC, with a yard that was a weedy, mucky mess. I started with just a few plants which grew and bloomed and created so much life to our outdoor space that I realized why people loved their gardens so much. I was hooked. I would daydream about what I could dig up next and what more I could plant.
Since I’m not one to enter into any new project from the shallow end, lucky for me I found a great project in need of help: this wonderful organization which gives jobs to people living with addiction in the Downtown Eastside. They needed a place to grow perennials and, as luck might have it, I had a sunny front yard I was willing to donate. I’m now hosting 400 perennial plants in my front yard. I designed the layout, broke my back digging beds (well, it FELT like it was broken), and planted, and planted, and planted. I was given these unlabeled little green things that I was to care for and I had no idea what they were until they flowered or sprung a distintive leaf. I poured through endless books and websites searching for them. I spent a year with them. And now, years later, I know them intimately. I went from having almost no gardening knowledge, to learning how much there is to know. I have gained great respect for Master Gardeners and farmers and all those garden sages out there (not the herb).
I am no master. I am, however, a quick study and someone who is passionate about learning new things. I took on perennials first, then chased the ever elusive year-round blooming garden, grew an herb garden, wrestled with a veggie garden, and started sprouting in the winter. This year, I’m espalier-ing a 4-Pear tree, I have over 100 varieties of food which I grow as a potager garden in the front of the house and in the back beds, and I have a plot at one of the local community gardens where I meet the most fabulous people. I love to take photos and report snippets that I learn along the way, so here I am, beginning in the middle, reporting on the past, present and future of my wonderful gardening world.
The Zen Garden under the deck provides an great view of the back garden.
Tags: deep thoughts
June 19 2009 04:17 pm | Community Garden and Flowers and Gardening and Growing Food and Vancouver
