How I grew into a gardener
I live and work as a gardener in zone 5ish downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada with my lovely wife and two beautiful children. This blog is dedicated to them!
I have two distinct memories of being interested in plants from a very young age:
- One occurred when I was perhaps 5 or so and received a tomato seedling from school and proudly brought it home in a styrofoam cup for my mom to plant in our garden. The smell and feel of that tiny and fragile plant still resonates with me.
- The other recollection was about my love for houseplants as a young boy. A close family friend bought me a book outlining the fascinating world of spider plants, philodendrons and ficus.
It's funny that after almost fifty years, these images still trigger such strong responses. I suppose this is the case for all gardeners.
Currently, our own garden now is a mashup of viburnums, Chinese dogwoods, Japanese maples, and various perennials behind our beloved Victorian house circa 1875. This wasn't the case when we moved in as the site was more junkyard than garden; however, Linda and I have wrestled something quite serene and lush out of the initial junkyard. I shudder at the thought of moving and leaving all this beauty behind.
My interest in plants have always been an unbroken thread in my life, stitching the different places I lived in and the jobs I've taken, culminating in my present occupation as a gardener and owner of Paul Jung Gardening Services, a small Toronto gardening services company which does not use synthetic chemicals or gas-powered machines. I've been in business since 2005 and provide garden design and organic and ecological garden maintenance for residents of Toronto.
As the saying goes, gardening for income is a hard way to make an easy living but I don't regret leaving the full time corporate world for a second!
In a previous (educational) life, I received my Bachelor and Master of Arts in Political Science from the University of Toronto (1988 and 1991.) I graduated from the Landscape Technician program at Humber College in 2006 to prepare me for this new endeavour. (You can learn even more about me on my LinkedIn sites.)
I think (hope, anyway) you'll find my ideas and comments informative and funny at the same time. I don't take myself too seriously as an expert of this plant or that technique (that's why we have Master Gardeners *wink*!)
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