81-year-old gardens to keep busy

Maria Teresa Ascensao is an 81-year-old who spent over 45 years ensuring the vegetables she grew in her Northmead garden are big and produced with love.

Maria featured in the City Times June 2020 edition for the huge pumpkins she grew, and recently invited the City Times to see the large tomatoes she plucked and to explore her garden filled with various vegetables and fruit.

Born in Madeira, Portugal, she explained they never had much in terms of finances and she leant to plant vegetables at a young age.

Since moving to Benoni, she has never had a normal day job and had spent most of her time sowing seeds, improving the soil and watering the seeds at the right time.

Throughout the years, Maria had grown pumpkins, spinach, kale, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, grapes, guava, figs, chillies and a wide variety of flowers.

The City Times asked what her secret to growing her vegetables was and what happens to the produce.

She explained it is very important to prepare your ground according to the moon.

“I plant my seeds the day after a full moon.

“I also ensure the ground I plant in is fertilised.”

Maria added that all her friends and family who live close by reap the fruits of her labour and enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables right out of her garden for free.

ALSO READ: 

6 Ways to make children’s gardening enjoyable 

ALSO READ:

 How to improve the soil in your garden