By Stephanie Pettigrew

From top left, counterclockwise: Calendula, pansies, feverfew, morning glory, morning glory, pea flower, and another variety of calendula.

One of my favourite things about summer is gardening. Watching tiny little seeds grow into four to five foot tall tomato plants out on my deck is something akin to magic, and even though I know that I would never be able to feed myself from our tiny pot garden in a million years, it gives us a certain feeling of independence; it cuts down our produce bills, we can make salads all summer long by simply going out to the garden and picking out what we need, and it tastes so much better.

Both my spouse and I practice heritage gardening – not so much by choice, but because it’s all we really know. I learned how to garden from my grandmother, while my spouse learned most of what he knows about gardening from his place of work, the Fortress of Louisbourg, where he works in the department of animals and gardens. The Fortress only allows heritage breeds of animals and plants, along with historical methods of gardening, while my grandmother never really taught me how to garden with pesticides or manufactured fertilizers, so between us we manage to produce an all-natural, organic, heritage pot garden. It could easily be replicated on a larger scale, say, in raised beds or in a community garden if you don’t have the space or your own land or yard, but we live in an apartment with a 100-squre foot patio, so a pot garden is pretty much our only option.

Continue reading