At the beginning of 2007 I was searching for a piece of land big enough to start growing vegetables, with a view to growing enough to sell at our local farmer's market here in Gibsons, BC. As luck would have it, at the same time, LeeAnn Johnson was looking for an organic gardener to tend to her fabulous garden - her husband had died the year before and her garden had got away from her. LeeAnn and her husband were keen organic gardeners, and over the years have built soil to die for. I couldn't believe my luck, I couldn't have wished for a more copasetic arrangement.
LeeAnn now has a new companion, an adorable little dog named - yes you've guessed it - Rooney!
Rooney is adjusting to his new home and new people, he loves to come out and tear like crazy around the garden (barriers have been placed to limit his access over the beds), he is quite a character and because he looks so funny charging around his nickname has become Looney Rooney. Because it has such a great ring to it, it just seemed natural that my fledgling business should include his name, it is after all his garden as well!
I had a late start to my first year. LeeAnn and I 'found' each other in mid May, right away I got to work (with the help of my partner Paul) chopping down the 5 foot high rye and vetch that had been planted the previous fall. Once it was all chopped down and raked up Paul rototillered the whole thing. I wouldn't have been able to do it without him - thank you, thank you! I let the whole rototillered area sit for a few weeks, and in the mean time started to weed the raised beds.
It wasn't until the middle of June that I was able to start planting. I looked at this year as an experimental year and wanted to plant many different varieties of veggies to see what worked and what I would like to grow again. For the next few weeks I planted numerous varieties of bush beans, carrots, beets (I LOVE beets!), black radish (disappointing), squash, lettuce, leeks, soya beans, english cucumber, cabbage, swiss chard, fennel bulb, scarlet runner beans, kale, broccoli, and brussel sprouts.
And then I went on vacation to England for a month. I won't go away in the summer again! My veggies thrived but also the weeds did too! Wow....I felt like I was back to square one as far as clean up went.
