John Gilbert 94 Year Old Gardener
1
ursday, July 22, 2010 e Bluffton News A4 Talent got This is your chance to rent a condo located on the southern tip of the island (Sea Pines Plantation). Just a 2 minute walk to the beautiful beach, the South Beach Marina and the famous Salty Dog Cafe! This beautiful condo is tastefully decorated and was recently renovated. It features custom-built maple cabinetry and all new appliances. This studio size villa offers a queen bed and a loveseat sleeper sofa. Enjoy the beach, watch the dolphins frolic, rent bikes and kayaks, go golfing, enjoy delicious, local seafood and much more. Looking for the Perfect Vacation spot on Hilton Head Island? Contact owners, Laura & Todd Edwards-Leeper, for more information and to make a reservation today! CALL NOW! 406-579-5011 [email protected] • www.hhibluffvilla.com See what others are saying: “We had an amazing time and we are SO GLAD we found your condo, it was PERFECT! It is in the best location. We love Hilton Head & will definitely be back next year, and hope to stay in your place again!” “Your place was fantastic!! We had a wonderful time and slept like babies on that mattress! I hope next year when we go back to HHI that your place is available!!” “Thank you for the use of your lovely villa at HHI. We had a wonderful time and it was a much needed retreat. Your place is such a neat little nest...we loved it. We loved it so much we are already talking about ‘next time.’” Weekly rentals only $595. Nightly rentals available as well. Contact owners for more information. *11% sales tax will be added to all rates. Mention you saw this ad in the Bluffton News to get this low rate!!! This is a $100 savings for Bluffton News Readers, over the regular price! John Gilbert has never been one to shy away from a challenge. From life on a farm during the depression to his experiences in Europe during World War II to serving as the manager of Triplett, he has taken on his fair share. It turns out that even his life-long passion of gardening began with a challenge. “There were six in our family. I was the oldest one. We each had a little bit of garden and we all kind of raced. We all liked to garden, and we all tried to beat each other,” said Gilbert. Over the years he says he didn’t come in second place to many people, and on the rare occasion that he did, “Well, then we both had something to eat.” Growing bigger and better vegetables than his siblings wasn’t the only thing motivating his early gardening experiences. He recalls that in the 1930’s gardening was a vital source of food for many families. “I grew up in the 30’s. It was hard times in the 30’s. If you didn‘t raise anything you went hungry.” Although the family gardens kept them well-fed there were occasional set backs. Gilbert recalls once attempting to grow the big- gest possible pumpkin. It grew and grew until the weight and size forced it to sepa- rate from the vine. “It got, oh, as big as a wash- tub, maybe a couple hundred pounds, and it pulled away from the vine and that was the end of that,” he said. Gilbert also helped his family by growing and sell- ing apples. He sold around 100 bushels a year from his orchard of five apple trees. “We put an ad in the paper and every year most of my customers returned and brought some of their people. I could sell more than I raised.” His favorite variety was one called Jumbo that had apples bigger than soft- balls. “If I’d had a thousand bushels of those I could’ve sold them,” he recalled. “I wish I had a hundred of those trees.” These days Gilbert does his gardening at Mennonite Memorial Home and a life- time of gardening experi- ence is paying off again. At age 94, he’s still grow- ing tomatoes in a raised bed on the grounds of the Mennonite Home. The plants are vibrantly green, loaded with tomatoes and stand over 7 feet tall. “These tomatoes this year, I believe, are the best I’ve ever raised,” Gilbert said. The ironic thing is that he doesn’t even like toma- toes. Potatoes are his favor- ite vegetable by far. “I don’t like to eat toma- toes; I just like to raise them. I let the Home have them. They’ll use all I raise.” Mr. Gilbert has a lot of gardening advice to offer people of all experience levels. His advice can be boiled down to three main areas: hard work, timing and careful observation. “If you don’t plan to work after you plant the seed, don’t plant it,” said Gilbert. In his opinion, hard work is the first essen- tial ingredient to having a good garden, but when he labors, it’s a labor of love. “I love to garden that’s the biggest thing. If you don’t like to garden, don’t do it. If you don’t like to work, don’t do it.” Timing is another factor that Gilbert feels is impor- tant to successful garden- ing. Planting and weed- ing at the proper time can make all the difference. When he takes his tomato seeds to the greenhouse, he tells them exactly what day he plans to plant them and what condition he wants them in. “Keep the weeds out at first, and when the plants grow up, they’ll give shade and the weeds won’t both- er you,” he said. And sometimes waiting is the right thing to do. The secret to good tomatoes, he advised, is to let them ripen on the vine. Gilbert has made a habit of knowing his gardens intimately by visiting often and being a careful observ- er, which helps him catch problems before they get too bad. “When I was home I went to my garden every day and if something was wrong I could catch it, and if somebody walked across that garden I knew it,” he said. Even now he sees his garden every day. “I don’t always work at anything, but I see it,” he said. When asked about the biggest challenges of gar- dening John cites blossom end rot, a common tomato disease, and the weather. “The weather is the big- gest challenge, it always was,” he pointed out. Some things never change, and for decades now that has included John Gilbert facing the challeng- es of gardening to grow, among many other things, beautiful tomatoes that he won’t eat. Residents of the Mennonite Home will be glad to help him out with that. By: Benji Bergstrand Benji Bergstrand photos John Gilbert is shown with his tomato garden. John gives all the tomatoes he grows to the Mennonite Home. Never too old to garden “If you don’t plan to work after you plant the seed, don’t plant it.”
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John Gilbert may be 94 but he is still gardening up a storm, providing his assisted living friends and the entire community with home grown produce.
Transcript of John Gilbert 94 Year Old Gardener
Thursday, July 22, 2010 The Bluffton NewsA4
Talentgot
This is your chance to rent a condo located on the southern tip of the island (Sea Pines Plantation). Just a 2 minute walk to the beautiful beach, the South Beach Marina and the famous Salty Dog Cafe!
This beautiful condo is tastefully decorated and was recently renovated. It features custom-built maple cabinetry and all new appliances. This studio size villa offers a queen bed and a loveseat sleeper sofa.
Enjoy the beach, watch the dolphins frolic, rent bikes and kayaks, go golfing, enjoy delicious, local seafood and much more.
Looking for the Perfect Vacation spot onHilton Head Island?
Contact owners, Laura & Todd Edwards-Leeper, for more information and to make a reservation today!
CALL NOW! [email protected] • www.hhibluffvilla.com
See what others are saying:“We had an amazing time and we are SO
GLAD we found your condo, it was PERFECT! It is in the best location. We love Hilton Head & will definitely be back next year, and hope to stay in your place again!”
“Your place was fantastic!! We had a wonderful time and slept like babies on that mattress! I hope next year when we go back to HHI that your place is available!!”
“Thank you for the use of your lovely villa at HHI. We had a wonderful time and it was a much needed retreat. Your place is such a neat little nest...we loved it. We loved it so much we are already talking about ‘next time.’”
Weekly rentals only $595.
Nightly rentals available as well. Contact owners for more information.
*11% sales tax will be added to all rates.
Mention you saw this ad in the Bluffton News to get this low rate!!!
This is a $100 savings for Bluffton News Readers, over the regular price!
John Gilbert has never been one to shy away from a challenge.
From life on a farm during the depression to his experiences in Europe during World War II to serving as the manager of Triplett, he has taken on his fair share. It turns out that even his life-long passion of gardening began with a challenge.
“There were six in our family. I was the oldest one. We each had a little bit of garden and we all kind of raced. We all liked to garden, and we all tried to beat each other,” said Gilbert.
Over the years he says he didn’t come in second place to many people, and on the rare occasion that he did, “Well, then we both had something to eat.”
Growing bigger and better vegetables than his siblings wasn’t the only thing motivating his early gardening experiences. He
recalls that in the 1930’s gardening was a vital source of food for many families.
“I grew up in the 30’s. It was hard times in the 30’s. If you didn‘t raise anything you went hungry.”
Although the family gardens kept them well-fed there were occasional set backs. Gilbert recalls once attempting to grow the big-gest possible pumpkin. It grew and grew until the
weight and size forced it to sepa-rate from the vine.
“It got, oh, as big as a wash-tub, maybe
a couple hundred pounds, and it pulled away from the vine and that was the end of that,” he said.
Gilbert also helped his family by growing and sell-ing apples. He sold around 100 bushels a year from his orchard of five apple trees.
“We put an ad in the paper and every year most of my customers returned and brought some of their
people. I could sell more than I raised.”
His favorite variety was one called Jumbo that had apples bigger than soft-balls.
“If I’d had a thousand bushels of those I could’ve sold them,” he recalled. “I wish I had a hundred of those trees.”
These days Gilbert does his gardening at Mennonite Memorial Home and a life-time of gardening experi-ence is paying off again. At age 94, he’s still grow-ing tomatoes in a raised bed on the grounds of the Mennonite Home. The plants are vibrantly green, loaded with tomatoes and
stand over 7 feet tall. “These tomatoes this
year, I believe, are the best I’ve ever raised,” Gilbert said.
The ironic thing is that he doesn’t even like toma-toes. Potatoes are his favor-ite vegetable by far.
“I don’t like to eat toma-toes; I just like to raise them. I let the Home have them. They’ll use all I raise.”
Mr. Gilbert has a lot of gardening advice to offer people of all experience levels. His advice can be boiled down to three main areas: hard work, timing and careful observation.
“If you don’t plan to work after you plant the seed, don’t plant it,” said Gilbert.
In his opinion, hard work is the first essen-tial ingredient to having a good garden, but when he labors, it’s a labor of love.
“I love to garden that’s the biggest thing. If you don’t like to garden, don’t do it. If you don’t like to work, don’t do it.”
Timing is another factor that Gilbert feels is impor-tant to successful garden-ing. Planting and weed-ing at the proper time can make all the difference. When he takes his tomato seeds to the greenhouse, he tells them exactly what day he plans to plant them and what condition he wants them in.
“Keep the weeds out at first, and when the plants grow up, they’ll give shade and the weeds won’t both-er you,” he said.
And sometimes waiting is the right thing to do. The secret to good tomatoes, he advised, is to let them ripen on the vine.
Gilbert has made a habit of knowing his gardens intimately by visiting often and being a careful observ-er, which helps him catch problems before they get too bad.
“When I was home I went to my garden every day and if something was wrong I could catch it, and if somebody walked across that garden I knew it,” he said.
Even now he sees his garden every day.
“I don’t always work at
anything, but I see it,” he said.
When asked about the biggest challenges of gar-dening John cites blossom end rot, a common tomato disease, and the weather.
“The weather is the big-gest challenge, it always was,” he pointed out.
Some things never change, and for decades now that has included John Gilbert facing the challeng-es of gardening to grow, among many other things, beautiful tomatoes that he won’t eat. Residents of the Mennonite Home will be glad to help him out with that.
By: Benji Bergstrand
Benji Bergstrand photosJohn Gilbert is shown with his tomato garden. John gives all the tomatoes he grows to the Mennonite Home.
Never too old to garden
“If you don’t plan to work after you plant the seed, don’t plant it.”
