Our garden club's first tour of the year was both dark in observation and short in duration - April's sunset at 7:45 p.m. was too early, and it was also chilly too soon, so maybe we'll return to a May garden tour for 2017?
That said, our tour of club member Bill Turner's garden was fun and instructive for greenery-deprived folk: Bill is a fountain of gardening knowledge, and is willing to try most anything that will allow him to grow food for his family (with a smattering of fruit and veggies to sell at our local Clayton Farmers' Market).
We learned the use of the broadfork in breaking up garden soil: enthusiastic club member Virginia quickly allowed other members to try their hand (and lower back) with the massive tool, asking/demanding "anyone else want to try this?"
We stepped into Bill's homemade greenhouse, enjoying both the warmth and the humidity, as well as Bill's discussion of which plants grew best in the perfect growing environment.
We also learned of Bill's onion growing techniques: black plastic polyethylene film over the raised bed, drip irrigation hose beneath, and a really cool plywood planting guide (Bill employs a propane torch to melt holes through the polyfilm, so that he can drop each baby onion plant into the soil!).
We had a great time at Bill's garden, and we appreciate him answering our hundred or more questions.
If you are a local gardener, and would like to be "toured" by our garden club members this summer, please leave a note here: we promise to behave ourselves in your garden, and you can be sure we will have LOTS of questions for you on what you do and how you do it in the garden. That's how we learn, and that's also how we have fun.
Jim McGinty
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