Ok, so we are having the biggest snowstorm of the year while I am writing this article in early April. Still, gardening is on my mind.
In fact, I have already started planting the garden for this summer. Leeks, parsley, tomatoes, basil, thyme, endive and more! It takes a very long time for some if these things to grow.
This year, I am inspired to garden more than ever. Which says a lot, because I always hope for a better garden than the year before. Up until now though, I have been floundering my way around in the dirt, with only small successes. A little garlic here, a few tomatoes there. Not much luck with carrots except that one time some of them grew well in a planter.
This year is going to be different, though. This year, I have some direction to go along with the inspiration. My friend Ed Burt has shared his knowledge in his just published book, “My Journey in the Garden.” My good fortune was to help with the proofreading over the winter.
So imagine, there I was in early December, reading all about how to prepare garden beds in the autumn and wishing I had received the book a few months earlier. So many things I could have done to prepare for this summer! Oh well, next year.
The second reading in January was often interrupted. I had to order seed catalogues! Then I had to find a 2016 planting calendar so I would know which day to plant the tomatoes, and when to plant the herbs. In between the inspirations, I would proofread, looking for the odd missing comma. It was bliss.
Despite reading books from the library and mucking around in the dirt for the past 40 years, I discovered that I know very little about a lot of things.
I learned how to manage the garden so it never needs to be watered. I learned to prep the beds in the fall, and disturb the soil as little as possible in spring and summer. I learned how to tend, to harvest and store. I learned how to grow mushrooms. And I learned a lot about sharing.
Ed shares his bounty with everyone — friends, neighbours, the local deer — and me, every time I go to Manitoulin to visit. And now he is sharing the most valuable gift of all, his knowledge and experience.
Why do you need this book? Ed says it best in his introduction.
"If you already grow your own food, I hope the book you hold in your hands helps you to grow more food and more nutritious food. If you grow too much, it’s easy to find somebody to give it to. If you don’t grow food now, I hope this book will encourage you to find a way to start.
“Whether it’s in containers on your balcony, in a vacant lot or in a community garden in the city, you can grow your own food. You don’t need an acre of land to do it. And it’s a wonderful thing to do. It’s a miracle to watch those tiny seeds grow into big juicy beets or a beautiful head of lettuce. The food you grow for yourself tastes better than anything you can buy."
*An earlier version of this article states the book will be sold at Eat Local Sudbury, however that was an error. Sudbury.com is contacting the column's author to update where the book will be available. Our apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Viki Mather has been commenting for Northern Life on the natural world and life in Greater Sudbury since the spring of 1984.
