Making a garden outside of the USA

To the Editor:

I gave this info about making gardens in a few places beside the U.S.A. to club meeting recently, thought maybe some others might enjoy to learn about gardening, somewhere besides the U.S.A.

In South Korea, all of our food was shipped from the U.S.A. So we had no fresh vegetables. Had a big backyard. So I asked the men who took care of the yards to make a garden plot for me. I cannot remember if I raised the plants, or found the plants in the market. I just raised tomatoes, green peppers and cucumbers. The cucumbers were the best ever. Stayed long and slim. Didn't get all fat and seedy. Was told not to raise things in the ground, as the people used human waste for fertilizer. Grady's company were building chemical fertilizer plants there.

My main problem was keeping the magpies out of garden. Those are such noisy birds. I always knew when they were in my garden. Then my next garden was in Canada. Always vegetables in the market. So expensive. The house we rented had a big backyard. So had a garden there. Don't remember much about that garden, except the cabbage. When the heads were made was like I had purchased a row of fake heads. The heads were exactly a like.

Didn't have a garden in Iran. Lived in an apartment. Had a big yard in Saudi Arabi, but was sand, and the sand is salty. Talk about vegetables being expensive. Really expensive is not the word for it!! How about paying a dollar for one small green pepper. Of course all of the vegetables are shipped in from only God knew where. This was years ago.

Then we went to South Africa. Plenty of vegetables grown there. But they do not keep the vegetables on ice. So wilted. Had a big backyard. And I had plenty of time so I made a garden. Was terrible rocky. Had a huge pile of rocks by garden. There was no outside water facets. People were not supposed to water lawns. If there was a dry spell I carried water from the bathroom and watered my garden. We did enjoy the vegetables, that is for sure. Oh yes I put the seeds in a pan of water, until sprouted. Then I carefully planted.

Had a cabbage head that kept growing and growing. When it started to split I cut and took to the green grocer and asked him to weigh it. He asked where in the world I had gottten the cabbage head. I told him I grew in my garden. He just shook his head. That cabbage weighed over seven pounds.

Now my back is so worn out, impossible for me to make a garden. Don plants a few tomatoes and green peppers. And puts a chair in the garden, so I when weeds get too high while he is gone I can sit and pull the weeds out. One reason I like a garden is there is nothing better than a vine-ripened tomato.

Irma Houts Epps

Poplar Bluff, Mo.