Thorold resident Bruno D'Intino has been growing vegetables all his life, but now the fruits of his labour have finally won him a prize.
Just last month, the Thorold Garden Club awarded him first place in the 'veggie garden' category of their annual city-wide garden contest.
“I’ve been growing veggies since I was a kid,” D’Intino tells ThoroldToday. “We grew up on veggies, we lived on a farm.”
D’Intino learned everything he knows about gardening from his parents, Carmen and Rosa.
“When we were four, five years old, you just follow them and you get experience,” he says.
D’Intino is from Abruzzo, Italy and he moved to Canada in 1967. Gardening is a way for him to stay connected to his home country.
“It’s my background,” he says. “I grew up with a family in which we grew everything. We make wine, we make sauce. I carry that with me and I try to keep my culture and I enjoy it when I do it.”
The vegetable garden is situated right next to his house and is filled with tomatoes, lettuce, radicchio, hot peppers, garlic, basil and there’s also a fig tree.
D’Intino says he entered the Thorold Garden Club contest almost by accident.
“A couple of ladies passed by and they took a picture,” he says. “They told me it was a contest and they were impressed with the fig tree. Otherwise I didn’t know.”
The vegetable garden provides for the D’Intino family all year long.
“We save for the winter,” D’Intino says. “We make sauce or we pickle all kinds of stuff, whatever you need.”
Now that fall is here, it's almost time to close up the garden for the season, pulling out all the tomato plants and covering up the fig tree.
“The figs are almost finished now,” D'Intino says. “You have to prune it, you have to cover it for the winter, it’s a lot of work but it’s enjoyable.”
D’Intino has been retired for quite some time now so he can focus all his time on growing veggies.
“I pass my time here,” he says. “But even when you work six days a week, you have some time to work on your veggies. You have to make time.”
According to D’Intino, the secret to a bountiful harvest is taking good care of the garden all-year round.
“There’s a lot of small things you have to do,” D’Intino says. “First of all, you have to fertilize it. Then while you grow you got to know what’s good or bad for them.”
So what’s D’intino’s favourite vegetable to grow?
“They’re all my favourites,” he laughs. “I have lots of stuff.”
