Successful Gardening 2010

I grew up with gardening all my life....I remember getting lost in the raspberry bushes at my Baba's place in Smoky Lake, my mom and dad had a big garden at the service station, and all my Auntie's had big gardens. When we were looking for a home to raise our children, it was a bonus that the house we picked had a huge 4-tier sloped garden in the back. But I wasn't the best gardener....raising two young babies, my garden was usually full of weeds. I had a few good years and then it got to the point where I planted potatoes only to keep the weeds down. Even still, the last couple years we planted potatoes, we weren't successful.

With Bob's tumour and a drastic change in our lifestyle of eating, I wanted our family to eat fresh produce locally grown and organic. I WANTED a successful garden this year. It wasn't until I ran into a lady at the farmer's market who I had met at the Vegetarian Meet-up. We talked about gardening and I had learned from her that NOT rototilling (no till method) the garden was better for the soil. She had piqued my interest and gave me her business card. Only a few weeks later, I had joined her CSA business (Community Shared Agriculture) and started my weekly venture with her. I purchased a working share & had to work 1 hour a week in her gardens and then the reward.....take produce home every week. Well, this was definitely the best decision I made and a great learning experience.

It was great working with Anita every week....I learned so many new things about gardening... how to set up a cold frame, how to compost, and how to prepare the soil and beds. Anita constantly talked and taught as we worked and we worked hard! I came home every single week from May to October with an abundance of food and some new foods that I hadn't tried before such as sorrel and jerusalem artichokes. I was motivated to come home and work in my own garden and I have to say that I had a very successful garden this year!

Here's a list of foods we grew....potatoes, onions, leeks, scallions, carrots, beets, peas, tons of beans, tomatoes, brocolli, cabbage, squash, lettuce, kale, swiss chard, herbs and more herbs, raspberries, cherries, saskatoons and tons of apples.

I feel good knowing my family has been eating healthy, fresh produce and tons of it. Now to just make that tomato sauce!