A4
Thursday, July 22, 2010
The Bluffton News
Talent
got
Never too old to garden By: Benji Bergstrand
John Gilbert has never been one to shy away from a challenge. From life on a farm during the depression to his experiences in Europe during World War II to serving as the manager of Triplett, he has taken on his fair share. It turns out that even his life-long passion of gardening began with a challenge. “There were six in our family. I was the oldest one. We each had a little bit of garden and we all kind of raced. We all liked to garden, and we all tried to beat each other,” said Gilbert. Over the years he says he didn’t come in second place to many people, and on the rare occasion that he did, “Well, then we both had something to eat.” Growing bigger and better vegetables than his siblings wasn’t the only thing motivating his early gardening experiences. He
recalls that in the 1930’s gardening was a vital source of food for many families. “I grew up in the 30’s. It was hard times in the 30’s. If you didn‘t raise anything you went hungry.” Although the family gardens kept them well-fed there were occasional set backs. Gilbert recalls once attempting to grow the biggest possible pumpkin. It grew and grew until the weight and size forced it to separate from the vine. “It got, oh, as big as a washtub, maybe a couple hundred pounds, and it pulled away from the vine and that was the end of that,” he said. Gilbert also helped his family by growing and selling apples. He sold around 100 bushels a year from his orchard of five apple trees. “We put an ad in the paper and every year most of my customers returned and brought some of their
“If you don’t plan to work after you plant the seed, don’t plant it.”
Benji Bergstrand photos John Gilbert is shown with his tomato garden. John gives all the tomatoes he grows to the Mennonite Home. people. I could sell more than I raised.” His favorite variety was one called Jumbo that had apples bigger than softballs. “If I’d had a thousand bushels of those I could’ve sold them,” he recalled. “I wish I had a hundred of those trees.” These days Gilbert does his gardening at Mennonite Memorial Home and a lifetime of gardening experience is paying off again. At age 94, he’s still growing tomatoes in a raised bed on the grounds of the Mennonite Home. The plants are vibrantly green, loaded with tomatoes and
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stand over 7 feet tall. “These tomatoes this year, I believe, are the best I’ve ever raised,” Gilbert said. The ironic thing is that he doesn’t even like tomatoes. Potatoes are his favorite vegetable by far. “I don’t like to eat tomatoes; I just like to raise them. I let the Home have them. They’ll use all I raise.” Mr. Gilbert has a lot of gardening advice to offer people of all experience levels. His advice can be boiled down to three main areas: hard work, timing and careful observation. “If you don’t plan to work after you plant the seed, don’t plant it,” said Gilbert. In his opinion, hard work is the first essential ingredient to having a good garden, but when he labors, it’s a labor of love. “I love to garden that’s the biggest thing. If you don’t like to garden, don’t do it. If you don’t like to work, don’t do it.” Timing is another factor that Gilbert feels is important to successful gardening. Planting and weeding at the proper time can make all the difference. When he takes his tomato seeds to the greenhouse, he tells them exactly what day he plans to plant them and what condition he wants them in. “Keep the weeds out at first, and when the plants grow up, they’ll give shade and the weeds won’t bother you,” he said.
And sometimes waiting is the right thing to do. The secret to good tomatoes, he advised, is to let them ripen on the vine. Gilbert has made a habit of knowing his gardens intimately by visiting often and being a careful observer, which helps him catch problems before they get too bad. “When I was home I went to my garden every day and if something was wrong I could catch it, and if somebody walked across that garden I knew it,” he said. Even now he sees his garden every day. “I don’t always work at
anything, but I see it,” he said. When asked about the biggest challenges of gardening John cites blossom end rot, a common tomato disease, and the weather. “The weather is the biggest challenge, it always was,” he pointed out. Some things never change, and for decades now that has included John Gilbert facing the challenges of gardening to grow, among many other things, beautiful tomatoes that he won’t eat. Residents of the Mennonite Home will be glad to help him out with that.