Wednesday 27 June 2012

how does your garden grow?

Just a little eye candy of beautiful flowers from my garden.

The yard at my new house is lovely. It had been professionally landscaped at some point before we bought the house, but had been let go a little by the previous owners. I've been working hard to bring it back--pruning, moving plants and shrubs, cleaning up the weeds, etc..., and adding to it. I am rehabilitating the vegetable garden soil; it is very compacted and depleted of nutrients. I am adding perennial flowers in order to add some colour, as the yard is mostly trees and bushes. It is a slow process. The first summer we lived here, I was pregnant with Remy. The second summer, he was a little baby. The third summer I was pregnant with Savianna. And now, I have a very active toddler and a little baby. But I'm doing what I can, and learning a lot in the process.

I love the way that working in a big yard like this, with such a variety of plant life affords an intimate view of the rhythm and pulse of the cycle of seasons. I have flowering shrubs, I have coniferous trees and shrubs, I have fruit trees, I have perennial flowers, and a small vegetable patch (this year it is small- next year it will be fabulous!) People who deny that climate change is a reality don't spend time working with plants, dirt and bugs. Their ignorance reveals that they have no first hand evidence of the changes that have taken place even in the last five years. I see bugs now that I've never seen before. I see drought even when we have rain. I see unpredictable frost patterns. I see a lack of pollination due to the disappearance of bees, thanks to pesticides and herbicides. If the bees disappear, we are in big trouble folks. They are the vital element of our food supply.

Sometimes while I'm working the garden, I consider my comparatively meagre ability to produce food, and then realize that I do grow enough apples, pears and raspberries to last the winter. With a little effort, I could produce more. I grow enough tomatoes to last till late fall, and can freeze the rest for sauces. And I wonder what sort of impact people could have in terms of reducing pressure on food growers if everyone grew even just a few vegetables and fruits? If we all grew even just a month's worth of produce, imagine the positive environmental impact that could have, imagine how the pressure on our food demands might be relieved a little. Plus, we would be preserving and passing on a valuable skill- knowing how to grow and cultivate your own food- understanding that process of life.And experiencing the joy of growing your own food- taking that little seed and ushering through germination to produce bearing. There is nothing so yummy as peas eaten while standing in the garden.

And of course flowers are lovely, and essential to environmental and psychological well-being...
Here are a few of my early-blooming beauties!


Enjoy!


xo Jo



















1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Jolene!! Very interesting and insightful and thought provoking. Lovely flowers. I do not know the names of too many .. saw a snapdragon. Thanks for sharing that with us. Dad