Final Project

Since I wasn’t able to present a final project in class and at the time I wasn’t too sure what I wanted to do for it either, I figured I would interview someone close to me who actually gardens.  I chose to interview my father since he had experience with gardening and he seems to enjoy it. 

His main reason for gardening is because he loves it.  He likes to eat fresh produce and likes to provide for the family, not just with his job, but also with his gardening.  He feels better that what he is eating is pesticide free and tastes fresher when picked from the garden and not the grocery store.  He gets a sense of satisfaction working with his hands and also giving extra vegetables to our neighbors.  Although its time consuming and hard work he still likes to go out there and plant and water and just see Mother Nature doing her job.  As far as I can recall he has always gardened and in fact when my parents were looking for a house, my father’s first priority is to see if the yard is big enough to for a garden. 

He doesn’t just plant, water and pick when the season is right, but he also composts throughout the year.  When the most of the food has been picked and the warm weather is almost up, he starts the process of collecting the leaves, grounding them up and throws in the garden, so it can help the soil.

When the season for gardening is near he starts up the processes again like clockwork.  He softens the ground with the till and purchases lots of seed and spends days spreading them out.  He even purchases pray mantis, because those bugs can help to keep out pests that could destroy the plants.  He goes out there almost every day to work in the garden and even plants extra fruits and vegetables that he didn’t plant earlier.    

I know for a fact that if he was given the opportunity we would expand the garden which he was already done so over the past few years. I am very proud of my dad because of how much work he put in to feeding us with nutritious foods.  When the bugs aren’t attacking me I try to go out there and help him pick the fruits and vegetables, but I usually end up eating the fruits almost immediately when I come in side, so I not much help when it comes to the fruits.

Here is a list of the fruits and vegetables that he grows out in the garden/backyard:

Plums, peaches, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, pares, cantaloupe, watermelon, cherries, apples, string beans, lima beans, white corn, tomatoes, peppers, beats, squash, cucumber, asparagus, pumpkin, carrots, peas, lettuce, kale, spinach, potatoes, onions, spearmint leaves and peppermint leaves and tons of flowers and plants a lot of butterfly bushes.  There are more, but we couldn’t think of them at the time.