Post by bluelacedredhead on Apr 20, 2010 9:03:23 GMT -5
I have been gardening since 1975, when I moved from an apartment (with no balcony) to the top floor of an old farmhouse in an area that had been marketgarden land. I shared the veggie garden with one of the other rental families, including the ample Strawberry patch! I also had help finding wild or abandoned fruits and forage in the area. A huge patch of white and red currants, raspberries, watercress and Fiddlehead Ferns were there for the taking once I knew where to find them. Twas a great introduction to gardening for a young mother raised in a non-gardening household in a large city.
My Grandparents had been avid gardeners, but my parents felt that gardening was passe. They only planted trees and concrete, lol
I've gardened under the shade of a highrise apartment building in downtown Hamilton, Ontario; on a postage stamp lot in full sun downwind of the steel mills and then in the fruitbelt of Niagara, with peach trees producing fruit the size of softballs.
In 1993, we moved to a 50 acre farm in Eastern Ontario. It was where my maternal grandparents had been raised. For 15 years, we raised paint horses, showed poultry and raised organic meats, veggies and of course, eggs. A change of career for my husband and an opportunity to be much closer to our Grandchildren brought us back to "civilization" in January 2009.
Here, I get to garden in a suburban yard (house included) that is smaller than my actual veggie garden was on the farm. The soil needs everything. It is clay with lots of gravel in it. And the weather here last year was of absolutely no help at all. But I did manage to get one tomato out of the garden, two bags of beans, and a kale and leaf celery that managed to overwinter. "All" was not lost on my efforts,
Last fall, I set up a rather large leaf mold pile, and I have a composter as well. I'm planning on bringing in a bit of fill, but for the most part, I am relying on these free gifts of nature to improve the soil as required. It took me about 13 years to get the soil on the farm to where I was happy with it. I know the drill by now....
I only know poultry genetics and a bit of equine as well. All this talk about heterozygous genes keeps conjuring up visions of tomatoes with one blue eye....
Work with me.
Pleeeez
My Grandparents had been avid gardeners, but my parents felt that gardening was passe. They only planted trees and concrete, lol
I've gardened under the shade of a highrise apartment building in downtown Hamilton, Ontario; on a postage stamp lot in full sun downwind of the steel mills and then in the fruitbelt of Niagara, with peach trees producing fruit the size of softballs.
In 1993, we moved to a 50 acre farm in Eastern Ontario. It was where my maternal grandparents had been raised. For 15 years, we raised paint horses, showed poultry and raised organic meats, veggies and of course, eggs. A change of career for my husband and an opportunity to be much closer to our Grandchildren brought us back to "civilization" in January 2009.
Here, I get to garden in a suburban yard (house included) that is smaller than my actual veggie garden was on the farm. The soil needs everything. It is clay with lots of gravel in it. And the weather here last year was of absolutely no help at all. But I did manage to get one tomato out of the garden, two bags of beans, and a kale and leaf celery that managed to overwinter. "All" was not lost on my efforts,
Last fall, I set up a rather large leaf mold pile, and I have a composter as well. I'm planning on bringing in a bit of fill, but for the most part, I am relying on these free gifts of nature to improve the soil as required. It took me about 13 years to get the soil on the farm to where I was happy with it. I know the drill by now....
I only know poultry genetics and a bit of equine as well. All this talk about heterozygous genes keeps conjuring up visions of tomatoes with one blue eye....
Work with me.
Pleeeez
;D
