What You Should Know if You are Thinking About Starting Your First Garden

2007-05-01T17:45:00.000-07:00

Gardening is an affordable, challenging and a very rewarding hobby.

It was my grandmother, who passed her passion for gardening to me. When I was a little girl, I helped my grandmother with her garden, where she grew a lot of vegetables and a few flowers. We worked together planting, watering, pulling weeds, checking our plants; make sure they are healthy and happy. At that time I just enjoyed being outside, close to my grandma, surrounded by green, colorful, cheerful plants. I did not know that every plant had its own character and growing habits. This was the biggest challenge for me when I started my first garden.

Now I know that some flowers prefer sunny locations, while others are happier in the shade. Some of the flowers will bloom growing in a poor soil, but will produce only leaves, if soil is too rich. I know that some plants are very fussy and not reliable, but there are tons of those beautiful plants, that are easy to grow and that will survive even in adverse conditions. So, the beginner gardener should stick to those reliable kinds and choose from them. This will save a lot of money and minimize frustration. Among those reliable for Minnesota perennials are all kinds of sedum, hostas, achillias, colombines, floxes, rudebekkias, monardas, bleeding hearts, and lilies, just to name a few. These plants multiply from year to year. Start with a small garden, and in a course of three to five years those perennials will grow into so many plants, that garden will double and triple its size, and you still have some plants to share with your friends.

I would encourage everybody to give it a try and start their little garden. Learn about plants growing habits. Some of them, like hostas, will grow well in almost any soil and location. Monarda, another name is bergamot or bee balm, likes to grow in a light shade and moist soil. Bleeding heart has growing requirements somewhat similar to those of monarda. There is also a list of annuals, which are easy to grow. Besides, those annuals will reseed easily. This will save your money and time. Marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, ageratum are among those that are the easiest to grow. Children can start their own garden with those plants.

Another challenge of gardening – it is a commitment. If you are dreaming about starting your garden, be ready to work hard to make sure you provide your plants with good soil, with watering on time and keeping weeds out of the garden throughout the growing season. It is a commitment that takes time, patience, hard work. Fortunately, gardening is not only challenging, but also and very rewarding.

To me, gardening brings a lot of rewards. I enjoy being outdoors from the early spring, when I begin to clean my garden from last year’s leaves and look for a first sign of awakening. Tiny green tips protrude through the old wet brown leaves, and after that the new growth takes off. Every day I see huge changes in my garden. Time passes, and there are first flowers, proudly looking around and waiting for admiration. I have bergenia blooming right now, in April, with gorgeous pink flowers. My Nankin cherry trees are covered with white-pinkish bloom. Anemones and adonices will follow. The very first thing in the morning, I look through my bedroom window down on my garden, and what I see fills me with joy. I have a great start of my day. Later I will have my own organically grown veggies and herbs. I will have enough for my family and my friends. And it makes me feel good about eating organic produce and about being able to share it with other people, who does not have their own garden yet.

So, I suggest you start your garden by going to the library or check on-line about plants you would like to have in your garden. Then buy a kit and test the soil in the location of your future garden to make sure it is suitable for the plants you want to grow. Then plant them and take a very good care of your garden. The garden will pay you back!

My Father is My Hero

2007-04-16T17:49:00.000-07:00

What is a challenge? Webster’s dictionary defines the word as anything that calls for special effort. We all face and overcome challenges from the moment we’re born. Babies are probably the fastest learners and the most effective in making special efforts. The learning curve gets less steep with years passing by. Regarding of our age, every day we are given many opportunities to learn, to make special efforts and to overcome challenges. It is up to us how we react to the opportunity to except those challenges and what we take out from our experiences. I would like to share with you an inspiring story of my father and how he overcame challenges of his life.

My Father Nikolai Khan had a hard and challenging childhood. He was born very sick. People were saying that he wouldn’t make it. He was treated with several sessions of acupuncture when he was a little baby. He survived, but was not as strong or tall as his siblings were. When he was about twelve, his family was deported from the far east of Russia to Kazakhstan because he was Korean. They traveled in a cattle car. All their possessions were lost. It was a cold winter and the trip took two months. After their arrival, his parents passed away. He got into an orphanage, where he was always hungry, lonely and lost.

Despite all these challenges, my father grew up into a kind, loving, generous, optimistic, and outgoing man. When WWII began he wanted to go to the war, but he was rejected because of his Korean heritage. My father wrote a letter to Stalin and got permission to go fight. He joined the army in 1942 and was honorably discharged in 1945. He participated in the Kursk battle, which was a turning point in a course of WWII. Many of his comrades fell during this long terrible war. Fortunately, my father was not even wounded.

After WWII he worked in a factory and began to write for the city newspaper. Gradually, he became more involved in writing and over the course of three to four years he became a newspaper reporter. At the same time he went to college and graduated with a major in journalism. He worked in the city’s major newspaper for over fifty years and published few short books.

My father devoted his life to people. My Dad invested a lot of time and love in us, children; not only in his own three children, but in all of our neighborhood kids. We read books, played soccer, volleyball, chess, spent many days working together on various projects. That became a model for raising children. And today those kids became adults, who are raising their own children the same way my father treated them.

He worked as the head of the newspaper department, to where people would send letters or would come with their problems, troubled situations, request for help. And he tirelessly and scrupulously would “investigate” every situation, and help people the best he could, using him name and the newspaper’s authority. When he died about six years ago, the newspaper named the department, where he spent most of his life, after him. There is also a small scholarship in his memory. Young people studying journalism and working in the city newspaper got some support to be able to get a formal education and to continue what my father started.

My Dad is not with me anymore, but his love, his spirit, his strength, his positive attitude are always guiding me in my life.

Learning English

What You Should Know if You are Thinking About Starting Your First Garden

My Father is My Hero