Creating a great edible garden this season has been a daunting task for most Western Canadians, even those willing to put in the time and effort required for vegetables to flourish.
That hasn’t been the case this year for Tony Merkle, whose garden took Best Edible Garden honours during the annual Communities in Bloom competition.
Merkle’s edible garden, located at 4906-60th Ave., has bucked the trends.
“It’s amazing — I can’t understand why. Of course, it gets hot back there. If it’s 31 here it will be at least 41 or 42 back there, because it’s got no protection and the sun is there.”
For Merkle, gardening comes naturally.  
“My mother was a great gardener, and my sister is a great gardener. It’s in the blood. I had an inclination. I’ve got a fantastic garden — I really have this year. I’m not trying to brag — anybody likes to be recognized for doing good.”
Merkle’s tomatoes have grown to a prodigious size, and indeed one found its way into The Taber Times’ second-place-winning chili this past Cornfest. But tomatoes aren’t the only thing grown.  
“My big thing is tomatoes — the tomatoes have done really well. We’ve got peppers, we’ve got kohlrabi, carrots, potatoes, corn, cucumbers, zucchini. I just rotate different spots. I don’t put the same crop in the same place,” said Merkle.
Merkle admits he’s a morning person when it comes to gardening.
“I’m an old man, so if I last until noon, I’ve done well. And then in the afternoon I just take it easy. It’s not really hard — when you plant them you put in a little effort, and when you dig them out you put in a little effort. It’s not done all at once.”
The ambitious green thumb creates his own blend of decaying organic material for fertilizer and digs it in by hand.
“I make my own compost,” said Merkle. “I gather grass from all the neighbours, and the leaves, I pick them up in the alleys when I see them. And then I dig it in. That whole garden gets dug up every year — not with a rototill. You get down deeper, and the moisture gets down better. It’s nicer to work with. You incorporate the compost down a lot deeper — it is better, yes.”
Merkle managed to get part of his garden in early this year.
“I think it was about March 15. We’d had some really nice weather, and that’s when I put the onions and garlic and carrots in — the stuff that is hearty. In January I start my peppers and tomatoes inside.”
Throughout his years and seasons of planting, Merkle has tried nearly everything his seed catalogues have had to offer. The pungent aroma of at least one crop, however, didn’t go over so well.
“We’ve been here since 1977, and everything in the seed catalogues we’ve tried. I grew tobacco one year. I smoked it, and it just about drove everybody out of the house — it smelled like weed,” laughed Merkle.