By Sheilia Munday

Growing up in rural South Alabama provided wonderful life lessons on the origin of the food we ate. Each summer my parents planted the large garden area next to our house and produced the most wonderful black-eyed peas, lima beans, okra, corn, and of course the best tomatoes ever! My parents made this process appear effortless, plowing the soil, planting the seeds, or planting then harvest as each matured, although, I am sure plenty of seven dust was used to prevent insects. During the peak of the growing season, we picked and shelled peas and beans, cleaned the corn to scrape off the cob and freeze for the winter months and canned any excess tomatoes that my dad did not consume.

Our area had fruit trees: Bartlett pears, blueberry trees, pecan trees, figs, Muscadine, and grape vines which were all canned or frozen but also made into delicious pies when fresh. We never thought of the need to spray the pecan trees nor to fertilize to make a bumper crop of pecans.

Fast forward 25 years, the garden has been dormant for all these years and my son decides that he would like to try his hand at truck farming using sustainable farming methods. His degree from Auburn was not in horticulture, which would have been helpful in this venture, but he did take advantage of classes and workshops offered by the Auburn extension service. In addition, he “followed” small farmers in various parts of the country who were successful and had a profitable business. He tried various crops, did not stick with the peas and beans of my childhood and with each different planting he attracted new non-beneficial insects which ate his crops. After a few years of trying to grow enough produce to sell, he gave up, and went back to school. He felt the lack of organic matter in the soil and the poor pH would take longer to overcome than he could afford.

Having retired last summer, I now want to grow vegetables in my back yard as well as reintroduce the native fruit trees to my old home place, The closures during COVID reinforced the fact that being able to grow your own fruits and vegetables was critically important.

I planted seeds in raised beds last fall but the seeds I planted never broke the surface of the potting soil/compost mixture. In the Master Gardner program, I hoped to acquire the knowledge needed to be able to grow the nutrient dense foods that we need to be healthy, to be able to select the native scrubs and flowers for my yard which will attract beneficial insects and birds. In the modules we have covered about plant botany and insects, I understand the difficulty of growing and hope with my newly acquired knowledge plus trial and error that I have been searching for at the farmer’s market in the last several years.

Once again, we have been fertilizing the old pecan trees at my old home place hoping to make them once again produce the large crop of fully filled out pecans which have not produced for about 25 years. We have made a bit of progress and have produced pecans but continue to have worms and black unfilled pecans which we are continuing to work on these trees but may need more expert help to get these incredible old trees producing.

Education is key to being able to grow any crop. Schools should offer more in-class instruction so that our next generation understands the difficulty of food production and that it does not just show up at their grocery store. Having grown up in a rural area, I knew the work and trials that farmers endured to grow their crops and have the utmost respect for them as a profession.

Sheilia Munday, an intern in the 2023 Master Gardener Class, lives in Montgomery. For more information on becoming a master gardener, visit www.capcitymag.org or email capcitymag@gmail.com