An Edible Garden Grows a Gardener

The first garden had beans with a trellis made from scavenged wood. My soil was so sandy that it was effectively sand. The amendments spread thin. My one-day course at the Simple Living Institute had made me an soil expert, at least expert enough to know that the endeavor required years of soil care-taking. But the seed of the idea of growing my own food was planted. From a packet, the seeds fell into holes and were covered. The water fell through the sand.

I had placed bricks around the garden's perimeter, so I knew where my seeds should be. Sure enough the seeds sprouted and small plants grew upon my short hand-made wooden trellis. On the day before, my first bean harvest I served my father and myself beans from a can. I picked the beans and my harvest enough for my father and I each having one serving. I steamed them and then poured butter on. The home-grown beans were far superior than the beans from the can. It was an empirical fact.

That my harvest was small, especially in light of my gardening expenses, did not matter because it had been enough. My backyard garden was a home to those bean plants. But, at the time, I reflected that how the plants had grown was still a mystery. I did not grow those plants. The plants grew themselves.

This is how it began. This is how I am here, asking these questions about permaculture and edible forest gardens. From my very first experience gardening, I had to admit that the plants humbled me. The tables were turned. The plant grew me.

With the first garden came this curiosity about gardening the edible garden. I was curious about these plants. I was curious about what might be an ideal design for an edible garden. Of course, implicit in the concept of the idea edible forest garden design is the implementation of such a newly-found possibility.

I desired information about the edible plants and how to grow them. So, I fired up my inquiring system. I began to research. I explored the subject virtally, digitally, and physically in time and space. Shortly after this first garden -- before I really knew it -- I was attending meetings about native plants and enrolling in weekend How-To-Permaculture courses. I quickly identified the gurus in the field and sought out their books and their blogs and their information on the subject of edible gardens.

The plants became the subject of my inquiring system. Suddenly, the plant list evolves into a plant matrix. The ideal garden becomes a daydream of edible garden possibilities. That plant list of Next Year's Garden is a puzzle with multi-dimensions. From that first garden experience emerged a desire to learn how to design the ideal edible garden.

Early on, I learned to pay attention to the experience of fellow gardeners. Please, in the comments below, share with me your first garden experience and what you learned.