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But first, a little history about myself. I was raised on a small farm near Kelvington, Saskatchewan. I believe it was the tiny yellow Prairie Buttercups (Ranunculus rhomboideus) and the tiny blue Northern Bog Violets (Viola nephrophylla) which captured me and instilled the love of plants in me to this very day. They grew at the edge of a small aspen grove near our garden. Each spring in late April, early May, I would find myself running out to that spot every morning before school, watching and waiting for those small plants to bloom.
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At the age of nine, my gardening career began, along with some very important advice from my father. One evening after supper, my father planted two dozen strawberry plants in the garden. He then walked to the new dugout with my older brother to see how much water had collected from the spring runoff. This is when I noticed those dark green strawberry plants, evenly spaced in a straight row, planted in the freshly tilled black, loamy soil. I was hooked! I quickly went to the edge of the garden and carefully dug out about a dozen Hordeum jubatum (Foxtail Barley), which was common in our slightly saline soil, and proceeded to plant them in a neat row beside the strawberries. I proudly showed my father this beautiful job of planting when he returned from the dugout. He was too shocked to be angry, but simply laughed and explained to me that one does not plant weeds in a garden. Guess who planted and looked after the family garden from that day on?
After graduating from high school, I worked at a tree nursery for three years and then went on to building pre-fab homes for one year. The following spring I had the opportunity to start work at provincial park, where I am still employed.
It was at the park that I met my lovely wife. We were blessed with a wonderful son, now in technical school studying computer systems and a lovely daughter, who is in grade nine in high school.
The winters of 1995 - 1999 were very busy for me, but also very rewarding for I completed the Prairie Horticulture Certificate program through the University of Saskatchewan and graduated in April 1999 with the highest academic standing for that year.
This column is basically an introduction of myself. I would like to add that a lot of the subject material will deal with our area, which is zone 2. This will include planting dates, plants which are hardy in our zone and when we should prune certain trees or shrubs, for example. In a lot of cases, there is more than one way to solve insect problems, start seeds and so on and so forth. I will be giving information on methods that have worked for me, and hopefully will be of use to you.
Until next time - Green Thumbs Up!
