I have been working in a garden till my bones cracked for about nine years.

For the first six I helped my father, learning from him how to plant plants right, water and weed. I have had my own garden for just three years. I used a broken bed frame and nailed the pieces together to form the square foot garden.

My dad and I got some soil from my god pa and carried it back to the garden in a wheelbarrow. It took us about five hours to do this. When my father saw I could take care of the garden, he let me help him build another one.

In 2008 I had a lot of problems with caterpillars eating mostly everything. These foes and other obstacles did not stop me gardening.

September 2008 was when I really started to get into square foot gardening. This was a great lesson of what to do if I was by myself when a financial crisis was to un-bobble itself.

The gardening experience was an up lifting one, an example of the success of hard work and independent decision-making.

This all led to a beginning, an actual one, not one I was just talking about — gardening by myself. You might ask how a person could be willing to work so hard at such a young age.

I do it so that when I'm older I will know what to do and won't need any help gardening.

I had a dream of having a large garden, being the best gardener in Bermuda and making a lot of money from my garden.

My dream has changed a little — I want to be a veterinarian with a garden. Such desire to be what you want to be can't always come easy. There will be times when you feel overwhelmed and need help from someone.

This is fine, but you can't always rely on others because you're not always going to be with someone, such as family.

I have had help from my father a couple of times and I appreciate that. He just teaches me new things every four months.

I garden to save money and to eat healthier, and because my garden is just up in my backyard, I save gas.

The measurement of the first garden is 7.3 by 5.3 feet; the second garden is six by 5.3 feet.

My garden has plants such as herbs, veggies like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce and pumpkin, and occasionally fruits like strawberries. I chose these plants for different reasons. The herbs are main kitchen ingredients, veggies are side foods, and fruits are snacks.

Three weeks ago I started to mash up dead summer plants for fertilisation, and soften the soil with a garden fork until it was like dry sand, working the dead plants into the soil.

I fertilised it with chicken and horse faeces and then planted baby winter plants.

Sometimes I get my plants from Aberfeldy Nursery but I also go to the St George's hardware store, Godet and Young.

I actually have not had to water my plants. Nature has taken care of them for now.

To close off, I would say I don't go to the garden just to do work but to enjoy the beauty of my garden and the satisfaction that honest hard work brings.