About

Me

Unkyu aka Homi Gardener here. I garden in USDA zone 6, the suburb of Manhattan. My first garden inspiration was my father who built a beautiful garden in my childhood home in Korea and gave me a little plot which I filled with Cosmos and other annual flowers. In my twenties to forties, I was a research scientist with very little time for gardening. It was not until in my fifties when I left my job that I seriously began gardening. When we moved to this property about ten years ago, there was not much of a garden. There were a lot of mature trees (which I love) and unkempt shrubs entangled with thorny brambles and poison ivy vines with leaves the size of my hand. As I began clearing the plot, I felt like a pioneer woman. Soon I became an expert at identifying poison ivy seedlings and telling them apart from Virginia creepers that were also abundant. As hurricane Sandy and subsequent storms took out many old trees, the once largely wooded plot became sunnier, and I started envisioning flower beds and vegetable gardens. Currently there are vegetable beds, several flower beds, a fledgling mini orchard, and a mini woodland. I try to make my garden as sustainable as possible. I compost most of my kitchen and yard waste. I never throw away leaves. I also make fertilizers using the Korean Natural Farming method. It is still a work in progress, and there are areas at the edges of the property that need serious clearing of brambles and poison ivy. As I do not have outside help (I reserve all of the garden budget for acquiring more plants), it is a slow process–but entirely rewarding! Most of all, I feel privileged to be a steward of this little parcel of Earth and to be able to express myself through it.

Homi

Homi is a truly versatile multifunctional tool originating in ancient Korea. I rely on Homi for all my garden projects. I write about it more here.