Sunday, July 29, 2012

The midnight gardener

We have several dedicated gardeners here at Pacific Gardens (alas, I am not one of them).  The weather we've had this growing season, with heavy rain in June, followed by days and days of sunshine, has meant they've been incredibly busy planting, weeding and cultivating.

One of them is my neighbour, Chad, whose giant Romaine lettuce is the feature of a video on our Facebook site.  During the spring and summer months I'll often see him pushing a wheelbarrow full of woodchips for our compost, wrestling with a hose, or in serious discussion with his partner, Susana, as to what they should plant where.  As chair of our Garden Committee, he is keen to develop what we call a food forest, where we will grow as much of our own food as possible.

He also works very long hours in the garden, so much so that I refer to him as the midnight gardener.  One night late during the first summer I lived here I heard the sound of someone moving around outside. I turned on my patio light and flung open my patio door to see who the intruder could be, only to hear Chad say, "It's okay, Kathryn - I'm just working in the garden."

Although I'm not a gardener - yet - I'm very grateful for the dedication and hard work of people like Chad, Susana, Kari, Richard, Kendrick, Clare, Sharon, Mykl, Kara, Doris and Kaj, Mia, Rosalind, Tara, Matt (and there may be others I have not mentioned) who spend so much of their time tending the gardens here.

Who knows - maybe some day I will don my wellies and join the crew!

Kathryn

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