Clippings or cucumbers

Like I’ve been saying, “March is Women’s History Month”. But by the second to last weekend of the month it’s difficult to remember it’s still March. Most of us have moved along to seed catalogues, lawn care products, bedding plants and patio party planning. My mom was raised in downtown Toronto. The yard at her childhood home was very small. You might even say it was a postage stamp yard. In spite of the small size, a lot of intense gardening happened there. My grandmother planted a peach tree beside the back steps and my grandfather had some grapes growing over a handmade arbour, along with beans and Roma tomatoes (for the sauce, dontcha know). Once my parents finished building our home, and we had moved to the suburbs of Toronto, a garden was planned and planted. A very large garden, to be sure. Mom’s was, mostly, a kitchen garden. She did have some ornamental plants growing around the house itself, and she was a believer in having a lawn for the kids to play on. But it was the vegetable and fruit garden she spent much of her “spare time” tending during the growing season.

The Durning family house was built on a very healthy seam of clay. In fact, there was so much clay in the area the Booth Brick Factory was located just down the road, and across the railway tracks, from us. I believe Mom just saw the clay as another challenge to her life in the “burbs”. One more thing for her to face, jump over, dig up, conquer and subdue. Upon the advice of her father, she invited a neighbour to pasture his cow in our yard. In return for the pasturing, Mom got all the manure the cow produced. Happy cow, manure to rot in the compost heap and a relationship with a neighbour who knew a bit about farming. I vaguely remember the markingout of the first plot for the vegetable garden. It was, I now understand, a bit of a “garbage garden”. Mom was a seed saver in the winter and a composter year-round. She cut the “eyes” out of any potatoes we had in the cellar and saved them for planting, she swapped baking for other plants and seedlings. Many of her early gardens were experimental. Some vegetables thrived in clay soil, others, not so much. Eventually, that garden produced oodles of tomatoes (staked with broken hockey sticks), potatoes, green beans and cucumbers. After many consultations with our next door neighbour who had several cherry trees, Mom planted pear trees and a plum tree. If any of us complained about being bored, we were given an old kitchen knife to sent out to weed the plot. But mostly, I think my mom liked being out there alone, away from the seven of us kids. When I had a yard of my own I found I, too, enjoyed weeding and hoeing, although I was never a fan of picking off the tomato worms or dealing with fat, white, wiggly grubs.

As an adult, I more or less abandoned the idea of having a vegetable garden. My mom was, for the most part, a stay-at-home mom and I found it tiring to commute to my full-time job, be a parent and a partner and then tend a garden. Although we occasionally had a few tomato and pepper plants, LOML and I eventually became tenders-of-a-lawn. If any plants were introduced to our property, they were ornamental and fussfree for the most part. But we did spend hours raking, mowing, edging, bagging leaves and grass-cuttings, seeding and feeding a lawn. Today, I have more spare time and I realize a green lawn is just a waste of space. Over the years we have filled our property with trees and most of the plants in our backyard are butterfly and bee friendly, but I see an opportunity to grow vegetables and herbs. Who knows, this year could be the year of less lawn and more vegetables. It could happen. I learned from an expert.

This year March/Women’s History Month should go out like a lamb. Encourage other women and listen to their stories. It took a long time for me to realize I am my mother’s daughter and I may, yet, grow a plant that yields more than a bag of clippings.

theresa@wellingtontimes.ca