For Gary Peese, gardens and kitchens are synonymous. His intense love of cooking starts in the dirt, where his skill with local and foreign vegetables and herbs produces faultless ingredients and has made him the subject of television shows and magazine articles. Gary left the banking industry in 1992 and brought his Mathematics degree and business savvy to Gardens. There he built and ran the company's financial backbone while sharpening his expertise with vegetables and herbs. Over the years he's also developed a finesse with raising chickens, particularly Silkies, a type of furry poultry.