Entry 2
When we bought our house, I had no experience with gardening at all. I did not consider myself a gardener, although I was in love with gardens and trees ever since I was young. The only gardening experience I had was with my grandmother Sophie. My grandmother Sophie grew parsley in her rural mountain backyard, by the crumbling outhouse in the sloping backyard. She grew the parsley, and I walked by the parsley on my way to the work shed where I built fences with my grandfather.
Then, my grandmother’s sister, Essie, who lived two houses down, had a sloping backyard in which she created a terraced gardens. As I played with my cousin, I would see her planting, and weeding, and caring for her garden. I was curious what she was doing, but I was distracted by climbing trees and running through the paths. It was only later I would stop and pay attention to presence.
In spite of these near misses to gardening, I desired to garden in my backyard. My initial attempts at gardening were beans I planted in empty yogurt containers. When the beans miraculously grew, I was smitten. I then found discarded plant containers. In these bigger containers, I planted avocado, peppers, lemons, and mango, which were seeds I took from the vegetables I was eating. I waited for the shoots to break the soil, and I was ecstatic when the avocado came up from the soil. Unfortunately, the pepper, the lemon and the mango did not follow the example of the avocado. Since I live in a climate that is not ideal for the avocado, I devised a plan where I would keep the avocado outside during the summer months and then bring it inside during the fall, winter and spring months. As a result, my avocados thrived. They grew.
My avocados grew in spite of the fact that they were not supposed to thrive in my growing zone (which according to the plant hardiness zone is 6B). My two avocado seeds grew smartly in April of 2018 inside the house. Then, in May, I moved the avocado pots outside where they could have wind, water and direct sunlight. Then, in the first winter I moved them back inside where the avocados kept their leaves as they sheltered inside my house. I talked to them, and my wife would laugh as I spoke to them. I was the plant whisperer. Then, the following May I moved them outside, followed by a return to the house in the fall/winter. Now, one avocado plant is about 7 or 8 feet high, while the other avocado is about 3 feet tall.
At the same time, I volunteered at the Carnegie library Oakland as a gardener. The library garden had two 6 by 6 garden plots. One garden plot was empty and would be the vegetable garden. The other plot was full of weeds and wildflowers (and the surprise perennial Cherry tomato vines). For the empty garden plot, I learned how to utilize a square foot gardening technique for the section that I had been given charge of. I set out my rows and my square foots, and I planted radishes, perilla leaves, parsley, and okra. In the process of these vegetables growing, I learned the hard way that each vegetable has an above ground height. My resulting vegetable mishmash height saw the Okra towering above the radishes and the parsley.
As a result of learning the hard way to plan for spacing and height, I designed my backyard garden on space between seeds in containers and between containers as well as the height of the various vegetables so that the fennel would rest against the house while the chard, they radish, the summer squash, and the kohlrabi would be spaced away from the house. In this way, I hoped that my design of space and height would create a terraced sightline.
Then, my grandmother’s sister, Essie, who lived two houses down, had a sloping backyard in which she created a terraced gardens. As I played with my cousin, I would see her planting, and weeding, and caring for her garden. I was curious what she was doing, but I was distracted by climbing trees and running through the paths. It was only later I would stop and pay attention to presence.
In spite of these near misses to gardening, I desired to garden in my backyard. My initial attempts at gardening were beans I planted in empty yogurt containers. When the beans miraculously grew, I was smitten. I then found discarded plant containers. In these bigger containers, I planted avocado, peppers, lemons, and mango, which were seeds I took from the vegetables I was eating. I waited for the shoots to break the soil, and I was ecstatic when the avocado came up from the soil. Unfortunately, the pepper, the lemon and the mango did not follow the example of the avocado. Since I live in a climate that is not ideal for the avocado, I devised a plan where I would keep the avocado outside during the summer months and then bring it inside during the fall, winter and spring months. As a result, my avocados thrived. They grew.
My avocados grew in spite of the fact that they were not supposed to thrive in my growing zone (which according to the plant hardiness zone is 6B). My two avocado seeds grew smartly in April of 2018 inside the house. Then, in May, I moved the avocado pots outside where they could have wind, water and direct sunlight. Then, in the first winter I moved them back inside where the avocados kept their leaves as they sheltered inside my house. I talked to them, and my wife would laugh as I spoke to them. I was the plant whisperer. Then, the following May I moved them outside, followed by a return to the house in the fall/winter. Now, one avocado plant is about 7 or 8 feet high, while the other avocado is about 3 feet tall.
At the same time, I volunteered at the Carnegie library Oakland as a gardener. The library garden had two 6 by 6 garden plots. One garden plot was empty and would be the vegetable garden. The other plot was full of weeds and wildflowers (and the surprise perennial Cherry tomato vines). For the empty garden plot, I learned how to utilize a square foot gardening technique for the section that I had been given charge of. I set out my rows and my square foots, and I planted radishes, perilla leaves, parsley, and okra. In the process of these vegetables growing, I learned the hard way that each vegetable has an above ground height. My resulting vegetable mishmash height saw the Okra towering above the radishes and the parsley.
As a result of learning the hard way to plan for spacing and height, I designed my backyard garden on space between seeds in containers and between containers as well as the height of the various vegetables so that the fennel would rest against the house while the chard, they radish, the summer squash, and the kohlrabi would be spaced away from the house. In this way, I hoped that my design of space and height would create a terraced sightline.
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