Meet Ms. Gwen, my beautiful mother and biggest supporter. She will get on board with most things that I'm interested in even when she doesn't fully understand why I'm interested, what I'm doing or where it's going to lead. Of course she was happy when I started gardening as she knew the fruits of my labor would end up on her dinner table. I've been surprised, however, at the level of her enthusiasm over the past few years. At this point, anyone that she speaks to regularly or randomly, meets for the first time, happens to bump into in the grocery store and everyone in between knows about my garden. My mom is known to brag on her only child but she's definitely gone to new levels these days. During a recent doctor's appointment, she told both the nurse and the doctor about this blog. When she told me the story, I didn't know whether to be embarrassed or crack up laughing!
After my mom expressed interest in having her own garden and helping me with my community outreach efforts, we made plans to put in a single raised garden box at her house. During the week of June 25th, we completed installation of a single 4' x 8' raised box filled with a 60/40 mix of topsoil/compost along with peat moss, alfalfa meal and bone meal. To make watering easiest while ensuring that the water gets straight to the roots, I put in a soaker hose with a simple on/off switch right at the spigot. The garden includes four heirloom tomato plants, four squash, two cucumber and two watermelon. There are also a few marigolds in place and other flowers & herbs will be coming soon to attract those much needed beneficial insects. The bed looks a bit sparse right now but is growing well and we expect it to be overflowing by the end of July.
I volunteer at two community gardens in the City of Richmond, VA and was delighted to have my mom come out for the first combined farm stand and work day at the Hotchkiss Community Garden. She did some watering and also helped with staking tomatoes, filling one of the raised boxes and planting watermelons. After a good day's work, she headed home with a bag of cabbage and other veggies provided by Shalom Farm. Having my mother work up a sweat in support of something that interests me was a great feeling and huge encouragement!
Ms. Gwen grew up in the City of Richmond, VA but her father was from Rocky Mount, NC. In the summers, she would visit her Carolina family where she vividly remembers her aunt Mary Lee's garden and picking fruit from the various trees in the backyard. Back in Richmond, there were also neighbors in her Creighton Court community who maintained small gardens which were a necessity in keeping their families fed. It is heart warming to find Ms. Gwen now tending her own garden so many years following these childhood memories.
To have my mother be inspired enough by something that I'm doing to actually get involved herself is a true gift. As the saying goes, "don't just talk about it, be about it". I think this is a very fitting way to describe the type of person that my mother is. If she believes in something, she will get behind it and do whatever she can to help. I know that this garden will grow beautifully because loving hands will be caring for it and I pray that it will be a blessing to her and others in the community.
I hope that the story of Ms. Gwen's garden along with the ups and downs occurring in my own backyard will inspire you to grow something (if you don't already). Gardening has shown me what can be accomplished when desire, patience, observation and love are mixed in with good soil, sunshine and rain.
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