After retiring as a teacher, Ann McGuire has a new career: life-long learner.

“In the garden, there is always something to learn – what to grow, how to grow it, when to harvest and how to cook or display it,” she says.

It’s late November at Thorncliffe Park Garden Club and the sun is about to set behind a lattice of hydro towers and wires stretching to the west.

Ann has been picking herbs including sage and parsley, and has pulled up the last of her carrots. This fall she’s experimenting with her leek crop: “This is the first time I’ve left them this long. One of the gardeners told me they taste sweeter after a touch of frost, so I will give it a try.” Her cluster of a dozen leeks looks vigorous, with the younger green shoots still spiking up, and the plants’ white cores continuing to thicken. They have already survived one decent frost and look like they are in for the long haul.

Ann started in the garden in the early 2000s after retiring as an elementary school teacher with the Toronto District School Board.

“Apart from some flowers on my balcony at my apartment, I was really a novice when it came to gardening,” she recalls.

The idea of a “Potager” garden appealed, based on the French garden tradition blending the beauty of flowering plants with ready access to herbs, vegetables and berries. Ann recalls that a few of the garden old-timers scoffed at the idea of space wasted on non-vegetable crops. They were used to maximizing production of beans, onions, tomatoes and greens on their small rectangular allotments. Flowers were low on the pecking order.

At the same time they gave her some good advice. “Andy would drop by to tell me what to plant when, and how to space vegetables to get a better harvest.”

She had other gardening mentors.

Her niece Kimberley’s husband Liam grew up in a gardening family in Ireland. He taught Ann how to prune roses so the tips grow out, giving the blooms space, and how to fertilize the soil and build up the plant’s base to protect it over winter.

Her Queen Elizabeth rose was a gift from her mom Lillian, and is a reminder of her mom’s strength. “My father Bill was one of four welders in Canada who did specialized work on refinery construction and other big projects. He worked on construction across the country.” Ann’s father died young — in his 40s — of lung cancer and there was no insurance.

“My mom was a housewife with three children at home. She had been a Red Cross nurse so she went back to school in ’57 in the first class for Registered Nursing Assistants at Women’s College Hospital. She became the breadwinner.” In retirement, Ann’s mom also lived in the Thorncliffe Park neighborhood and visited Ann’s garden often.

As a novice gardener, Ann learned about rhubarb growing from her new garden friend Pauline, who shared a recipe for rhubarb squares. Garden neighbor Linda provided a recipe for baked zucchini stuffed with meat, vegetables and spices.

But it’s about more than watering, weeding and enjoying the harvest. Ann and her friend Arielah find shady spots around the community garden during the summer to hone their Scrabble skills.

As the late November sun sets, and the horizon blooms dark purple, Arielah has dropped by to say hi. She’s been busy putting her garden to bed for the winter. A chill is in the air and gardening days are numbered.

Ann’s life-long learning extends well beyond the garden.

“I like to take courses to learn more about something I know and appreciate, but also to try something new. I believe that you learn as long as you live,” she says.

Through the University of Toronto’s Later Life Learning program, she recently attended a course celebrating Ten Musical Masterpieces. “Rick Phillips, who hosted the Sound Advice radio show on CBC, was our lecturer. He helped the class understand classical pieces from a musical and historical point of view. After playing a recorded clip, he would use his keyboard to break down and discuss elements of the music.” Classics from Bach, Stravinsky, Berlioz and Mozart were on the top-10 agenda.

“Something new” included a course on opera. “I actually took this course because I had never liked opera but wanted to understand and appreciate it.” Ann also completed courses in art history and jazz appreciation.

Her love of music started at an early age – “my mom says I sang at my own Christening when I was two years old. I didn’t know the words but apparently I sang my own version of a hymn.” Today, Ann sings in the Toronto Choristers, a choir comprised of retired educators who practice regularly and are gearing up for a Christmas concert at a North York church in December.

On the gardening front, she has enjoyed attending garden shows to learn about new plants, ideas and techniques.

Ann has given back to the non-profit community garden, serving on its volunteer board for many years. One of the programs she coordinated involved deliveries of fresh vegetables to the Scott Mission’s daily food program downtown. One of the first residents of Thorncliffe high-rises built in the late 60s, Ann has seen the neighborhood grow into what Globe and Mail journalist Doug Saunders describes as an “Arrival City” for people from around the world – and home to Canada’s largest elementary school. “I’ve changed apartments but really wanted to stay in the neighborhood.”

The sun is down now and a cool wind is accelerating across the 100-plus plots at the community garden. This winter Ann will take a page of graph paper and plot out a new Potager garden design. “I like to change things up every year, although sometimes those plans go out the window. I will see some Pansies on sale in the spring – and I start to rearrange everything to find spaces for the new plants.”

The cool breeze has induced mild hypothermia in both the blogger and the interview subject, so we retreat to Ann’s car where she shares some recent photos of her garden. In one, Ann sits in her garden under a green and white umbrella in the middle of her Potager plot. Pink roses blend with Dill. Purple flowers in the foreground give way to towering Tomato plants. A homemade noisemaker – made out of a foil pie plate suspended by string from a tall pole – is intended to ward off the occasional deer that visit the garden from the Don Valley to nibble on summer greens.

“The garden is a true community, and it’s my sanctuary,” says Ann.

A place to teach and learn.

Ann’s gardening friend Pauline passed away earlier this year. Ann promises to email Pauline’s recipe for Rhubarb squares. With the winter solstice less than a month away, the dark purple sky has already faded to black by 5:30 p.m.

Come spring, it will be time for a Rhubarb treat.

RHUBARB MERINGUE SQUARES

CRUST

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup flour
• 1 TBSP sugar

FILLING

• 3 eggs separated
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 TBSP flour
• 1/2 cup half & half cream
• 2 1/2 cups cut up rhubarb

MERINGUE

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• egg whites

Mix butter, flour, sugar.  Press into 9×9 pan.  Bake at 350 for 10 min

Mix egg yolks, sugar flour, salt and cream, stir in rhubarb.  Pour over baked crust and bake 45 min.

Make meringue.  Spread over mixture and bake 10 – 15 min. until nicely browned.

A special spring treat!