The Rose Garden

Aaron Rose tenderly cares for his small garden at Congregation Shaarey Zedek.

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM

ASSISTANT EDITOR

t's going to be a good year
for tomatoes at Congre-
gation Shaarey Zedek.
Aaron Rose's tomato
garden is already showing
fruit. And that means
stewed tomatoes and
spaghetti sauce and toma-
to soup should be popping
up everywhere.
As soon as the tomatoes
are ripe, Mr. Rose will
pass them out to Shaarey
Zedek's two rabbis, two
cantors "and just about
everybody else here at the
synagogue. And I'll proba-
bly send some to my son in
Atlanta."
For years, Mr. Rose had

a garden in the back yard
of his Southfield apart-
ment. Then the moles
came. "We just couldn't get
rid of them," he says.
So this year Mr. Rose
turned to Shaarey Zedek,
where he has been a mem-
ber for the past 20 years.
Administrators offered
him a patch of ground in a
large field just to the north
of the parking lot. Mr.
Rose paid for the construc-
tion of the garden; syna-
gogue maintenance helps
with the upkeep.
Mr. Rose begins working
on his garden in mid-May.
"Most people don't start

until Memorial Day," he
says, "so I have a good
week's start on them."
He hired "two men in a
tractor to pick the sod up,
then they measured it off
15' x 15' to give ample
space for planting. We put
down 200 pounds of peat
moss and 10 pounds of
tomato fertilizer. We
planted 80 tomatoes all
20" apart; that will give
them plenty of breathing
space."
"Every Monday they put
in some vitamins, to take
the acid out of the toma-
toes. And we use rabbit
and dog chaser, to keep

the animals away."
Regular watering is key
to a successful garden. Mr.
Rose sees to it that his is
watered at 6:30 a.m. every
day. The timing is crucial.
Fruitful jardens also
require "good luck and the
Lord Almighty bringing us
lots of heat." Mr. Rose
himself sees to the final
ingredient: tender loving
care.
On an early morning
inspection, Mr. Rose is dis-
couraged to find that ties,
holding the plants to
stakes, are coming loose. It

ROSE GARDEN page 54