So you want to know a little more about me as a gardener.
I’m a motivated, self-taught gardener with a lifelong passion for perennials and veggies. I don’t profess to be a horticultural expert or even a master gardener, as my working career was spent in different fields entirely! But after fifty years of gardening in one form or another, I’ve learned a few things I’m happy to pass along.
I’ve always loved nature, and that’s still where I’m happiest. I grew up in southeastern rural Pennsylvania. I got my love of plants from my dad who took great pride in his vegetable garden. We foraged, made wine, picked berries and more. College, jobs and apartment living all conspired to separate me from gardening, so for a while I gave it all up.
Then in 1990 my husband and I purchased a rural property with wonderful old fruit trees. We grew apples and pears, blueberries and perennials like phlox, beebalm, peonies, lilacs and rambling roses. At one point we had two immense vegetable gardens in addition to herbs and flowers, much of it organic. I consulted a few horticultural professionals and read up on landscape design. But weekend gardening and DIY projects on top of a full-time career is exhausting. I could never quite stay ahead of it all.
As retirement approached and our health declined we decided to downsize. We sold our homestead and relocated to the suburbs. Our new property presented many challenges, and we had to start over from scratch. (For more on how we birthed our current garden, see the Provenance page.) I am forever in my husband’s debt for all the digging, hauling, mulching and mowing he did at both properties. There’s nothing like teamwork to make garden tasks less of a chore!
All in, it took us five years to transform our property into what we have today. We thoroughly enjoy it and yes, it was worth the trouble. Now I’m focused on making its upkeep more hands-off as we age in place. I hope this blog inspires and reaffirms your own love of nature, no matter where you live.
Update — June 2024: Sadly, my husband has died. I will be deciding what to do with the garden in the coming months. Roughly, I’ll be hiring professional help and scaling back on both the volume and varieties of plants to make future maintenance more manageable.
Adrienne