Hello everyone
My name is Margaret Meldrim. My first introduction to gardening was through 4H. everyone in our club had a vegetable garden that was a seasonal project. We had to submit a garden plan, then plant the garden and tend to it during the summer. At the end of the summer, a 4H agent would come and do a garden inspection, looking for how well the garden was doing, weed control and disease and insect control. I didn't really do much with flowers then because they weren't considered an important use of my time, because you can't eat flowers. It wasn't until I reached adulthood and we bought our first home that flower gardening took roots with me. We had limited areas that could be planted and most of them were in the shade. Mr. Schueller, who owned Phoenix Flower farm with his wife was my first gardening mentor. He had a beautiful area just with day lilies and Iris as well as Hosta's and other perennial plants. I made five gardens at this house and kept them going until we bought our farm in 2002. I dug up all of my favorites and healed them in a small garden , anxiously waiting until spring to start anew. spring brought many surprises, random peony plants, daffodils and jonquils, tulips and a green plant I had never seen before, that had no flower. Just prior to buying our farm my husband and I had travelled to Scotland and I was astounded by the beautiful formal and less structured gardens and wanted to create my own flower paradise. So I dug up all the plants that were scattered through out the yard and started two small perennial raised beds with compost from my brother's farm. The one plant that had no flowers was dug up and it was a mass of bulbs, so I took it up to a trash area. Later that fall, my husband told me that the plant had flowers- it was a fall crocus that we had seen in Scotland! So that earned several spots in my gardens. I also dug up random plants at deserted farms, and some snowdrops from my grandmother's property to add to my flower collection. I now have 12 perennial gardens, two raised beds with asparagus, rhubarb and herbs, 4 large raised beds that I grow cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and other vegetables, as well as two large vegetable gardens;, one just for pumpkins, the other for vegetables that I preserve, and my designer pumpkin collection. I have pear and apple trees and would like to expand on my knowledge of growing more kinds of fruit trees. My goal with the master gardener class is to learn how to teach people how to grow their own fruits and vegetables as well as how to beautify their landscapes.
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