Bernard Heydorn

is quite different from what you would buy in a supermarket. Take tomatoes for example. Backyard tomatoes are juicy, tasty, and lovely to eat, raw or cooked. Supermarket tomatoes for the most part are expensive, watery and tasteless.
Growing your own tomatoes, you choose your favourite types to plant and grow. We like "big boys" and beefeaters. Cherry tomatoes are also popular. Last year I had a bumper crop of tomatoes which lasted us until late into the fall.
Beans – green or yellow – grow fast and furious. We also call them string beans. They go nicely with stews or separate as a vegetable or with other dishes. Zucchini squash is a vegetable that is also popular with many folks.
One of my favourite vegetables from the old days when I was in the Caribbean is egg plant. It goes by other names – aubergine, better known as "boulanger" in Guyana. I used to shop that vegetable regularly at markets in the West Indies. It adds to a nice curry. Both zucchini and egg plant need time and space and tender loving care.
Bell peppers grow slowly and delicately. They take their time to mature and are "fussy" about the company they have around them. They are also stingy with their crop. Each vegetable has its own favourite place and space in the patch. Some like sun, some shade, some a mix of both and so on. Like humans, they get along with some other vegetables but not every one.
Some vegetables are invasive and pushy, just like humans, and try to take over the whole garden. Some like to climb, some like to crawl low, some like to keep to themselves. Some flower regularly, some rarely. Every morning I inspect the garden and make sure everybody is getting along with everyone else. Some days I find a vegetable trying to get on the back of another and I have to stop that right away – not in my garden! All these executive decisions I have to make daily.
Okro/okra is one of my favourites. They grow fast and tall – 3 to 4 feet. The difficulty is trying to get the seeds to buy. Most Canadians, except that they come from the Caribbean, Africa, the Southern United States and a few other places, have no knowledge of okro. We get a good crop of okros every year. Some folks don't like okros because they have a slimy taste. Okros however go along with many dishes including the Bajan "cou-cou".
Melons and cantaloupes are sweet and nice, especially in this hot, summer weather. I have tried growing ornamental and bird house gourds but with little luck so far. The summer does not seem to be long enough for them.
The secret to growing vegetables is watering. You have to water almost daily, depending on the temperature and rainfall. Can you imagine being out in the hot sun for almost 18 hours every day? You would get thirsty too. You also have to prepare the soil, feed the plants and protect them. You just can't plant them and leave them. Like children, they need constant attention. That doesn't mean that I sit and watch them all day long.
I am up at the crack of dawn, watering, weeding and picking the crops. I am there with my hands in the dirt, fighting off mosquitoes, bugs, and other insects, who, like my wife, do not like to be disturbed early in the day. Weeding is a chore and decisions have to be made. Is that a weed or a vegetable? – not always easy to tell.
Then there are the predators. Like thieves, they come at any time and especially in the dead of night. They include rabbits, squirrels, birds and neighbourly dogs. The dogs particularly like to pee on the best growing plants and produce! I have nothing against the creatures of nature except when they invade my territory. Precautionary measures must be taken – fences, guard dogs, scarecrows. Some folks get visits from deer invading their gardens. Some farmers are never far away from their shotgun!
In the end, is it all worth the time, money, and effort you put into it. With the price of vegetables skyrocketing, I would say so. Some folks don't like to get their hands dirty or bend their backs. Gardening is not for you. Some people don't like bugs attacking them, which is understandable. Some have health and mobility problems. Living in a city, it is not easy to find a space to garden although plots can be rented.
When I was a child growing up in Guyana I did not like gardening. It was a compulsory activity at St. Aloysius School in New Amsterdam which I attended. Pulling up crab grass in the hot tropical sun was not my cup of tea. Gardening was also looked down upon as menial – activities that prisoners from the New Amsterdam Prison were forced to do in their work gangs. Getting "low down and dirty" was not held up as a means to social mobility in a colonial society.
Times have changed and I have changed. I love to garden. It's part and parcel of summer and the outdoors. It brings me closer to the soil. Remember the Biblical saying "Dust thou art and to dust thou shall return."
I must go now. Some day I will tell you about our flower garden. In the meanwhile if the creeks don't rise and the sun still shines, I'll be talking to you.

 

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