XploreOrganics

I have been gardening for about 12 years. When we purchased our first 50 year old home we spent much of our time renovating the house and the garden. There were big beautiful trees but also being that the house was previously owned by an elderly couple the flower beds resembled grave plots with squares and rectangle mounds of soil in no special order scattered about the lawn.

I spent many summer days collecting old moldy silk flowers from the garden (The lady said they added winter color--haha) and strings of pantyhose imbedded into trees and tied onto nails. Speaking of nails, the ground was full, this is where I learned to wear steel shank boots in the garden after my second encounter with a large rusty nail through the soft center of my foot...not a pleasant gardening experience.

After 5 years we decided to move on. I designed a dream home with 26' cathedral ceilings and a prow overlooking conception bay. We hired a contractor and the dream turned into a nightmare.

We spent 3 years in a crammy basement apartment where I started many seedlings of apple and pear trees on a window ledge while I contracted a smaller cottage style home myself.

It is now almost 5 years since we moved into our new home and the gardens are pretty much complete...well to a gardener is anything ever complete? 1/2 acre just does not seem to be enough so perhaps we will move on to larger land some day.

Being in Newfoundland I have the climate to work with so I am interested in short-season crops. Edible plants, especially perennials and finding new ways to grow more food in our
inclement weather.

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20