After nearly five months I can report that retirement is working for me. To start each day in the
garden, harvesting vegetables, weeding, starting seeds, cultivating, and listening to my favorite
music is a blessing. The garden is both my refuge and play pen. Gardening allows me to use
my creativity to solve problems, come up with new ways to grow vegetables and group them
for better production and more eye appeal.
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| View of vegetable garden from patio. Photo by Ron Trombley |
This year I have had the time to do more planning, especially regarding the timing of succession
plantings of crops like lettuce, mesclun, cabbage, broccoli, beets, radishes, and carrots. Also,
I have had more time to nurture more tender crops like melon. Without a doubt this has been
my best year ever for melon production. Thoughtful pruning, hand watering/fertilizing, and timely
treating with fungicide have made a huge difference. I am reminded of a French saying “You
can judge a man’s garden by his melons”. This year, I can hold my head high.
It feels great to be blogging once again. I love gardening, talking about gardening and sharing
the joy that this hobby brings to me. Back when I first started blogging, I found it difficult to
find the time and energy to post after a full day of work, and a couple of hours in the garden
trying to keep up with nature. Unfortunately, I stopped posting in 2011. Despite the lack of
new posts, my blog has had over 24,000 page views over the last three years: 11,000 views
for my post on crop rotation alone.
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| Vegetable garden in June 2014 |
I get it. People are hungry for good information from experienced gardeners. I promise to keep
the posts coming. If you are new to gardening, welcome. If you are already an avid gardener
I look forward to swapping information with you. I invite you to become a follower of this blog.
My promise to you is thoughtful commentary on the process of vegetable gardening, the vegetables
we grow and the food that we create with these vegetables. My motto is “Vegetable gardening
for health and happiness”. I’m living it. Come and join me.
All the best,
Greg
