I have another blog for our whole family. The other day I posted about Our Family Garden, which is just getting started again this season. My friend Diane commented and asked where I learned about gardening. To be honest its all been a little bit at a time. Some of it is straight up experimentation and seeing how things turn out. I figured the answer to that question deserved its own blog, here instead of on the family site.
When I was a little girl we lived in Arvada, Colorado. I have a fond memory of screaming for my mom to "Save my tomatoes!!!" during a wicked hail storm. Yeah, my mom saved my patio tomato plant from hail the size of golf balls by sacrificing her head to the storm.
Then as a slightly older girl we lived on about 1/3 acre. In the city limits of Chico, not out in the county. Upon request, my dad put in a really nice garden area in one corner of our backyard. It had a fence and locking gate and was about 25ft x 15ft. I designed the whole garden layout. My mom and dad allowed me to pick out seeds and my dad did most of the manual labor. I harvested & my mom cooked. I can clearly remember having it for 2-3 years at least...but it was probably many more. We lived there from the time I was 6 till I was 18.
The rest of our yard had millions of roses, a huge lilac bush which perfumed the whole neighborhood, a forsythia that kept trying to take over one corner each spring & several amazing shade trees. My mom also had one entire side yard full of wild flowers & butterfly bushes. We had several ducks over the course of my childhood. First a pair of mallards, then a pair of muscovys, then another pair of mallards. I clearly remember my dad building me a basic chicken coop, but then we never got chickens. Hmm. I'm sort of wondering why now. Our ducks were just as loud/quiet and the muscovys were HUGE. Maybe we were given the ducks and then couldn't get chickens.
Anyways...after some basic childhood experience I've always had a desire to garden. Cherry or yellow pear tomatoes are almost a necessary part of our life. We've just expanded from there. Here are a few basic things that I've used to gain more knowledge or to help with our yearly garden......
This book was given to me by my Aunt Katie. I either got it for graduation from Culinary School...or Christmas one year. I LOVE IT! Its so inspiring. It is by far one of the BEST gardening books I own.
Then I decided to purchase this book...I believe last year at Lowes or Home Depot. It is a great companion to the one I already had. If you can't find something in one of the 2 books...well thats pretty much impossible.
to be continued....
Thanks for answering my question. I have been so impressed with your knowledge how great your results have been, even just learning more as you go! How old were you when you moved to CA from CO?
ReplyDeleteTHANKS SARAH! I was really hoping to start my garden this year. I grew up with an parents who had a yearly garden plus fruit trees. With 8 family members, you need to! Since my knee injury, I am back to just wanting a garden. Hoping for next year, my knee will be well enough to get down and dirty! I'll check those books out and get educated!
ReplyDelete