Super gardener

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/08/2022 (751 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mary Perera loves gardening and she is very good at it. Mary is recognized as a super gardener by her neighbours and friends.

For over thirty years Mary and her family have been residing in Seven Oaks Crossings – south of the Seven Oaks Hospital. They immigrated to Canada in 1974, coming from Sri Lanka.

After her retirement in 2016, Mary made more time in the summer for her kitchen gardening hobby. Mary’s annual gardening experience is all happening in her back yard, a typical City of Winnipeg house lot, where a flatbed garden is neatly prepared by her always supportive husband, Felix Perera.

In early spring, Mary’s garden is usually the first one in the block with the seeds sowed and seedlings planted. She takes pride growing a series of vegetables, including: three types of herbs, lettuces, peppers and beans. A variety of onions, carrots and tomatoes are also on the list. Eggplants, garlic, leeks, cucumbers, zucchinis and squashes make up most of Mary’s garden.

While avid gardening activities are Mary’s primary focus, there is also an ample plot of lawn in the back yard that accommodates small garden parties and barbecues. An array of colourful flowering shrubs thrive in the remaining space.

Mary is committed to collecting rain water for watering the garden. She also practice composting and using grass cuttings to mulch the roots of the mature plants. Mary is also known to be guided by the lunar calendar that may assist farmers when to sow seeds and plant seedlings to avoid the frost and for better yields.

With her annual bountiful crop, Mary has a long list of neighbours and friends that receive her harvest hampers.