About The Real Gardener

Hi there, and welcome to The Real Gardener!

I’m Jonathan Nardone, the passionate young Canadian man behind The Real Gardener.

I am an enthusiastic gardener, writer, and nature enthusiast.

My love for gardening started when I was a teenager and I saw the absolute BOUNTY that came out of my Italian grandparents’ garden. Huge tomatoes kept showing up at our house because they had too many. It was a big problem!

So that’s when my brother and I started our very first garden, back in 2020. We worked hard and got a small harvest. That kinda discouraged my brother, but it didn’t stop me.

Although my brother may have left the garden, I kept it in my heart and continue to cultivate it to this day. I have had success and failure, but I always come back to the utter joy and satisfaction that I get from growing beautiful plants.

Why I Started The Real Gardener

The Real Gardener presents a fresh perspective on gardening. As a young teenager, maybe I can teach those old-timers a thing or two about the garden 😄.

But seriously, I don’t believe that there are many young people coming into the gardening / agricultural world. This is a problem because food industrialization is taking over.

We used to cultivate fresh, organic produce at home in our backyards. Now, we settle for fruits laced with toxic chemicals that kill us. How is this ok?

Let us all reconnect with our roots in nature and cultivate better, organic vegetable gardens. That is exactly what I aim to teach you how to do.

Additionally, The Real Gardener was my idea to secure my life and the life of my future family.

I never really liked the idea of going to school for so many years, spending tens of thousands of dollars, and then coming out with an entry level job.

I wanted to take control of my life, I didn’t want other weirdos deciding what I would do. I am the only weirdo who should decide what I do.

That being said, I wanted to work for myself, not for some guy who doesn’t even know my name.

And on top of that, I wanted to create a job for myself where I could do anything that I love.

This is all that The Real Gardener is!

Jonathan Outside the Garden

I also like to participate in other hobbies of mine, outside of gardening.

I practice a very healthy lifestyle (as I like to think), where I exercise, avoid all ultra-processed foods, and generally try to avoid chronic illnesses.

I think eating fresh foods is paramount to this lifestyle.

I am also a proud follower of Christ, part of the most holy Catholic Church. I attend regular church services every Sunday and I try to participate in my parish community here and there.

That being said, I often have friendly religious debates with my friends and online. We like to discuss various topics related to the religions that we respectively follow.