Growing sweet potatoes,
blueberries and kiwi in Great
Falls, Montana. Impossible?
Not for Charles Bocock,
Great Falls resident and flora
manipulator extraordinaire.
“It’s all in the soil,” he says when we walk in
to his workshop. It resembles something
you’d imagine out of a medieval alchemist’s
laboratory—except instead of boiling
cauldrons and mercury, Mr. Bocock has
grow-lamps, lights, seeds, soil potted plants
and eyedropper vials with different labels—
there are even five sprouting tea trees (yes,
tea trees).
This interview was effectively a cram
session on everything from heat units
needed to maximize growing season,
to the microbiology of reducing
germination time (the example
Mr. Bocock threw out was corn
seeds—from 14 days to 4). It
was immediately apparent that
this man’s passion for growing
plants in MT was somewhat
consuming. “I have a degree
in biology and chemistry and
my wife is an MD and a PhD
in microbiology,”—enough
knowledge to power a university
department, and me, Jake and
Tracie with only two hours, a few
cameras and a yellow legal pad.
Here is glimpse of what I learned.
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