Why Grow a Garden?

Why grow a garden? Why buy tools, seeds, get tired muscles, fight pests, and then blame the weather, the late spring, the dry summer, the rain, and many other factors that affect our results? Is it for food, beauty, home appearance? Maybe to keep in shape or to impress the neighbours? Whatever the goal, the results of the garden do not always depend on the weather.

I think of the times we lived in the Arctic. Friends said, "Well, Mary, you won't be able to garden there!" Secretly, I tucked some seed packages and some bulbs into a box of books that was to accompany me as I traveled the 1200 miles down the Mackenzie River by boat. When I arrived on September 5, the river was frozen near the shore and the ground was as hard as ice. Winter had arrived.

But I thawed some lumps of mud in syrup pails and planted the calla lily bulbs and the amaryllis. They grew in my classroom and the green leaves were a joy to all in the dark winter months.

As spring brought bright sunshine and each week longer days of its warmth, the calla lily bloomed. Finally, we were able to shed the huge storm windows from the south side of my classroom. We nailed them to a small frame of an old woodshed and soon we had a snug little greenhouse. Long sunlit days and a little tin stove for night gave the necessary warmth. We melted snow for water. And things grew!

My little packets of seeds were a source of magic and joy. Nasturtiums, linaria, balsam, clarkia, forget-me-nots, became little miracles - I measured 24 inches of growth in one day on a bean shoot. The pepper cress and nasturtium leaves were good to nibble on. The radishes, however, grew only tops.

Some years later I made the same journey with my husband, Joe, and two-year old Tom. This time we were able to fly - a whole day in from Edmonton.

Again I carried some garden hopes for our home as I had rooted slips in earth on a pie pan on the top of my shopping bag. I had to take great care to keep them intact and unfrozen but they were the beginnings of my house plants - wandering jews, begonias and coleus.

There were still some sunlight hours mid-day in September and Joe worked to scrape up a ten-foot square of ground near our house. It was sedge, moss and lichen covering permafrost but we thought, if we could stir it up, the spring sunshine would penetrate the surface to a greater depth.

In June there was still snow around but we had hope as we planted beets, lettuce and some flower seeds. Nearly every day some snow blew in and covered the patch. Some seeds germinated and eventually we had some leaves as big as a finger. Then Winter came again.

Another would-be gardener had better results. He started cabbage plants in a green house and eventually grew edible cabbages up to 4 or 5 inches across in his space by the silty river bank. It was interesting to see that, while he had real soil and the moderating effect of the river flowing past, he still had frost just a few inches below the surface. The cabbage roots all grew horizontally.

Canada is such a large country. The diversity of habitats is extensive. We thought Ontario would be Utopia - at least for gardening. And compared to the Arctic it is. More soil and better soil, longer summers and so, of course, higher expectations. The results of an individual's labour and knowledge is readily apparent as success can vary from garden to garden.

Then on a visit to Edmonton I was absolutely amazed - the gardens were all wonderful. We drove down some lanes to see each back yard filled with tremendous gardens. I attributed it to the "West" with its agriculturally knowledgeable people. Then we visited a young couple from Ottawa. They too had an astonishing crop.

So garden success wasn't just knowledge and labour as we had found in Ontario. It was the long summer days, clear air and sunshine, and very deep fertile soil that gave Edmonton such an advantage.

But of all our gardens, when I think back over the years, perhaps our best harvest was in the North. While we ate dried vegetables, dried apples, raisins and prunes, we harvested great experience, memories and immeasurable joy.

Please contact the OHS or the author if you wish to republish these articles. © Ottawa Horticultural Society

Back to index of articles