Spring Planting

May long weekend is the preferred date for planting vegetable gardens in the Shuswap.  As I set forth to put my garden in I reflect on the history of gardening on the farm.  The first vegetable garden was in the corner of what is now the hay field.  It was a large garden that had the advantage of being naturally irrigated by the spring beside it.  The soil in that corner of the field is rich and dark.  The family produced large crops and preserved as much as they could for the winter ahead.  The farm did not have a tradition of producing produce for sale except for a one-time bumper crop of garlic.

The large garden in the corner of the hayfield.

The garden was eventually moved to a large area overlooking the lake in front of Renee and Gus's house.  Renee was the avid gardener in the house and spent many hours in both the vegetable and flower beds.  The gardens were the traditional long rows, which when Betty started to garden she duplicated.
Betty gardened more out of necessity than a true passion which is admirable in that it is difficult work.
However for Renee the earth was compelling and she was always enriching the soil of her gardens with special concoctions.  She had a large collection of geraniums that were brought inside the house for the winter, finding the spring sun when the time was ripe.  Her gardens produced a wealth of flowers and vegetables as love does make things grow better.

Renee's gorgeous vegetable garden with the view of the lake.

Renee and Gus display with obvious pride some large vegetable from their garden.

Renee's gardens resembled the "potager" style of french gardening with a beautiful mix of vegetables, herbs and flowers with the goal being creating a aesthetic product as well as edible. The gardens on the farm used the traditional row method with one type of plant placed in low rows.  This style of garden requires a lot of space which the farm was not short of.  When I moved to the farm and started gardening I very quickly moved to the raised bed system.  This is an intensive style of planting where plants are close together in blocks which yields more food per a square metre and allows fewer weeds to grow.  Other advantages are reduced soil compaction by keeping foot traffic away from the plants, earlier planting, easier frost protection, soil improvement and creating an architectural interest.  I also mulch heavily with straw which conserves water and also reduces weeding.   I don't believe that soil was meant to be bare.

My garden using the square foot method.

The house that my family is currently living in was moved into what was at one time the barnyard in the spring of 1994. It was also the location of the original farmhouse where Caroline and Carlos first lived when they bought the farm.  There were flowers around this old farmhouse however when we moved to the property all those gardens had completely disappeared.  The soil, although there was lots of manure, was of poor quality and very rocky.  I had not been living there long before I started to construct gardens around the house.  My father, Eddy, was my major assistant.  He used the excavator to move soil and rocks and slowly we created together a spectacular yard.  In those early years I loved planning out the gardens and spent many happy hours choosing plant compositions.  My son, Aidan, quickly developed a passion for the excavator and became inseparable from his grandfather when he is working in the yard.  All the soil came from my Renne's vegetable garden.  By that time Renee and Gus were living in Switzerland and we decided to plant a lawn where the vegetable garden was in order to make the yard easier to keep.  Eddy moved all the soil from this garden using the excavator and dump truck to our property.  The soil sat in a large, rich pile, and slowly was spread throughout all our gardens.  I credit the luscious growth of my vegetables and flowers to the skill Renee demonstrated in building up the soil.

My son Aidan and his grandfather, Eddy.  Early 1990s.

The flower beds, early spring.

The yard, summer. A very child friendly place.

This year I am once again putting in a vegetable garden and tending to the flower beds, including a complete redesign of one area.  Gardening is part of my heritage on the farm and something I shared with both my father and grandmother.   These thoughts inspired the following poem.

Dig down, down.
Into the richness of the garden soil.
What will I find there?
The very same earth that my grandmother nourished,
with banana peels, coffee grounds.
The ground that she held in her hands, sifting slowly,
pulling out the fine threads of roots.
I have lost my roots too, I think that, as I dig.
uprooted and thrown into the sun.
Pulled from all that sustained me, family, history, land.
There is comfort in this work, my hands black,
to think I could be holding the same earth my grandmother held,
many years ago.
So it is with hope that I make homes for the plants and seeds.
I push the earth down, add water.
And wait for the wonder to begin.