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Gardening is Taught and Caught
By Barbara Radisavljevic of Barb's People Builders
The first garden I ever remember seeing was the one my father started when I was a small child -- the child you see in the picture. This picture was taken when I was three years old in my father's garden in our backyard in Bellflower, California. As you can tell by my expression, I was enjoying the garden. I can't quite recall the particular plant I was so excited about in this picture, but I do remember working with my dad in the garden for many years after this picture was taken. I imagine this probably started as a Victory Garden, since World War II had just ended when this picture was taken. We not only had a variety of vegetables, but an abundance of fruit trees and vines. The fruit from those trees spoiled me for store-bought summer fruits later on in life when I was on my own. There is absolutely no pleasure like having a tree full of ripe Babcock peaches or a loaded apricot or plum tree that you can pick from whenever you wish. As a child I learned exactly how to tell if the fruit was ripe enough to pick and eat right away. When I walked in our small orchard every summer when the fruit was ripe, I was in my personal paradise, and never hungry for long. My dad also grew a variety of berries. I remember a long fence in that backyard propping up raspberries and blackberries for its full length. My mom used to make jam from them. She also used to can the yellow peaches and apricots we grew. The white Babcock peaches aren't good for canning, but it's hard to find a more delicious eating peach. When I grew up and got married, one of our goals was to have a garden. The first house had no room for fruit trees, and we had to be content with a few tomato plants. But when we moved from Culver City in Los Angeles County to Newbury Park in Ventura County, we finally had a place for fruit trees. We planted a Babcock peach, a white nectarine, an apricot, and a Santa Rosa plum tree. The house already had an established navel orange tree and some pineapple guava trees. It took about three years before we were getting any pit fruits, but in the meantime we were growing some yummy tomatoes, corn, and squash. After we moved here to San Luis Obispo's North County, it was a bit harder to grow the garden. We've finally got lots of room, but the soil needs a lot of amending and when we succeed in growing anything, there are a lot of critters that try to get it before we can. The deer go after the apples, but there are enough of those for all of us to share. It's the raccoons and gophers that make it so hard to enjoy the fruits of our labor. The birds and squirrels have seen to it that we've never harvested an almond, and the raccoons have a sixth sense to tell them exactly when the tomatoes will be ripe enough to pick the next day and they raid them the night before. Rather than pick a tomato and eat the whole thing, they will pick it, take one bite, throw the rest away, and go on to the next one. When we fenced an area to keep the deer out, we were too naive to know we should have tried to make a fence to keep raccoons out as well. The gophers have managed to kill five fruit trees and almost anything I plant directly into the ground. To foil them, we have to plant most everything in a gopher cage, container or a raised bed with wire mesh on the bottom. Gophers seem to enjoy my favorite herb to grow -- borage -- as much as I do, and few borage plants last longer than it takes them to mature and produce a few blossoms. My father taught me at an early age by his example how delightful it is to grow one's own food. As I helped him in the garden, I learned the basics of growing things. But most important, I also caught the urge to grow things myself when I grew up. I believe teaching one's children to grow food is one of the greatest gifts you can give them. |
The author as a child in her father's garden
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It must be fun to have a gardenful of furry woodland creatures such as raccoons, deer and gophers! Even if the raccoons have atrocious table manners. Though I got to say I am somewhat of a raccoon as far as careers are concerned. Also partners. 
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
I also like the furry creatures, and I wouldn't mind sharing a little. But I don't spend hours of my time solely to feed these creatures. Our county also frowns on our feeding these creatures because their presence is said to attract the mountain lions who prey on them. Just this week I harvested the grapes the deer had left for us: less than ten grapes total. I could see where the thousands of grapes had been stripped by the hungry deer, who left their calling cards on the ground. I'm hoping we will get more from the vine inside the deer fence. Those aren't quite ripe yet. I'm trying to think of a way to keep the birds and raccoons, whom I've not seen yet this year, out of those grapes and out of the rest of my tomatoes.
I know how you feel about growing your own food Barb because my father was a great grower of vegetables. He once grew a single carrot in a barrel which was over 12 inches long and 2 inches diameter at the thick end! Needless to say, I inherited his love of gardening and grow my own - what's left of it after the kangaroos and rabbits have had their share!
 | | Barb Dec 17, 2010 17:25 | |
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