by Ferell Anderson

Created on: June 01, 2008   Last Updated: June 10, 2008

Growing up gardening: My most amazing gardening memory began when I was sixteen years old, with an idea to plant a garden even though, I knew nothing about gardening. I grew up in a girl's group home and I longed for both a way to fit in, yet stand out. Our group home was situated on twenty-five acres of Florida land, which included fertile soil, suitable for growing any food group.

With permission from the group home authorities and guidance from a gardening manual I purchased from a yard sale, I set out to build a small garden. I used my money from a summer job cleaning the YMCA pool, combined with my allowance money to rent a tiller machine, that carved out a piece of land for my garden. I selected an area on the property that already had well water irrigation, so that providing water for the garden would be no problem.

My garden was seventy-five feet wide by one hundred feet long. Looking back, I laugh at the time spent tilling the garden, as the machine beat me up as much as it beat up the ground. In the end, I had tilled ten rows, most of which I used for rows of corn. My garden also included tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and water mellow.

My garden was a huge success and provided extra food for all the girls at the group home. In addition, because I was willing to work at this gardening project and succeed at something I knew nothing allowed me to both fit in and yet, stand out in a constructive and positive way. This amazing gardening endeavor taught me that hard work truly builds character; a value which remains with me to this day.

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