A garden style is about as unique as the person who takes on the journey to grow their own food or flowers. Your space can quickly become a reflection of your environment and quite often this will direct what is planted. Every season energizes the next and inspiration evolves along the way.
When I think about gardening style I am immediately drawn to the countryside but most of what I do comes from my Italian grandmother. Growing for the joy with a slightly structured concept using raised beds and implementing simplistic techniques that date back for generations.
As a young child, I remember being driven to her home where I helped with garden chores. As I got older, I rode my bike and gardening felt like a way of life. I thought every family was growing their own food but as I grew up, I realized that was not the case.
Grandma taught me the importance of soil preparation in addition to the value of planting good food and herbs from viable seeds. She also loved flowers and I quickly became her gardening sidekick. Each visit allowed the opportunity to learn something new and often she would say these skills would be handy one day. I had no idea what she meant, but I always took her advice to heart. She was right about a lot of things and every year that I plant it is like we are still growing together.
Since Grandma was Italian a lot of what she grew reflected her heritage and I have been working towards doing the same. She was always scouting for heirloom Italian seeds and sometimes trading with friends. I remember her introduction to Franchi sementi (seeds) it was on a visit to the city. She made her purchases with a joyful heart and her love for gardening continued with each harvest. She was always proud of her lettuce and made the best Italian salads.
Growing a garden that reflects your roots is the example I am working towards. It has taken some time to achieve and originally, I referred to my space as a country garden because that is my environment. Then recently I was taking in the splendor of this planting season, remembering that time when she purchased her variety of Franchi sementi. She was frugal and once her foundation was established, she harvested seeds every year. I was curious to see if I could find those seeds so I did a search online that brought me here to Grow Italian, Seeds from Italy.
There was an immediate connection when I recognized Lynn’s name because I had her flower farmer book on my shelf. I used that amazing resource to learn more about growing flowers
when we had our family farm. You can imagine my excitement when I noticed she was selling the same seed brand my grandmother purchased from so many years ago.
The idea that I could plant like grandma, brought forward happy tears. I have purchased a couple times this year and now I am preparing for fall planting. With firm goals, I began thinking about my garden style and decided to rename my country space to a Country Italian Garden. A place that produces goodness by offering time to enjoy the better things in life. I will be transitioning all my purchases to Franchi Sementi because everything I planted this year germinated at a rate that was unbelievable. I am a direct seed planter at heart and I could not believe the quality of these seeds.
This has been one of my best gardening seasons and during morning chores I often reflect to that time when my grandma found her seeds in the city. She was over joyed knowing she could grow food that reflected her heritage. Some 45 years later that same joy is present in my garden. I have placed importance on growing good food but also herbs and cut flowers because they welcome the hummingbirds, honey bees and butterflies.
Maybe you have similar garden memories that drive how you plant or push forward the desire to try something new. As we walk into the heat of summer, I would like to encourage you to think about placing a name to your garden style. Maybe let your inspiration come from your heritage, your environment or more importantly your heart.
Carole West
Author & Artist, Encouraging Goodness
www.carolewest.net