Grow Your Own: Suburban Gardening: How Does Your Garden Grow?

Friday, June 10, 2011

How Does Your Garden Grow?

This is the first in a series of gardens that I will feature on this blog. Last week I had occasion to visit a friend. We had spoken about her gardens prior to this. I remember when she moved into this house. There was no garden. The previous owners did not have any type of flowers or shrubbery. This beautifully groomed area makes a really nice place to sit and sip a mint julip or a vintage merlot. The fence was installed to increase privacy from the street. The shrubbery planted along the fence creates even more privacy, makes for a fine breezeway and sound barrier. It is not easy to grow roses. They require a lot of attention. A lot of love and cultivation has nurtured these roses that have been trained to grow on this open cast iron gazebo. The cast iron dinette set compliments the area making a great place to have a meal on cool afternoons.

We settled in another beautiful area of her yard that I chose not to photograph. It was a time of day when the rear yard was shaded and I did not wish to reveal the location. My good friend is enjoying her yard. She has now decided to stay in the area instead of leaving for some far away pastoral part of the country. She has created a beautiful outdoor living space that has caused her to fall in love with the place she has chosen to live. Gardening therapy has calmed the need to fly south that very often influences us to pick up and leave a town. We sipped merlot and spoke of the times when I worked and the times when she will no longer work. All in all, it was a great day.

Thank you Cynthia South for sharing
your merlot, your company and your
beautiful yard.

American Pastoral,
Pastoral Retreat Art Poster Print by Steven Harvey, 37x28,
Windowsill Whimsy, Gardening & Horticultural Therapy Projects for Small Spaces
Horticulture Therapy Methods: Making Connections in Health Care, Human Service, And Community Programs (Haworth Series in Therapy & Human Development Through Horticulture)
Projects for Horticultural Therapy Programs

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Original Garden Committee Members

The Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden was made possible by many different groups of individuals who worked hard, who donated money for materials that made the vision possible. The County Personnel was very responsive in the donation of soil, large machinery and labor. The Garden is sustained the same way. We are a group of lifelong learners. Left to Right: Betty Griffin, Esther Babb, Curtis Caviness, Kevin Lake, Richard Stanard, Wayne Hamer, Valerie Hamer, Lucy D. Walker, Crystal Brown, The Gainey Family

Teamwork = School and Community Together

This group of teenagers pitched in at a moments notice. Community donors and volunteers supplied all of the lumber and other materials needed to build the garden. City Council Members, A School Board Member, Members of the Environmental Commission and Families pitched in to build the garden. A construction firm noticed our dilemma and volunteered to build the first 25 boxes. Volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints contributed time and Carpenters to assist in building the remaining beds.

Gardening is the most rewarding manual labor on the planet

In July of 1990, I received a call informing me that my Mom had passed. It was raining. I went outside anyway. It was very warm and the smell of the warm earth was very soothing. I weeded my flower beds and thought about my Mother. She had left the hospital against Dr's orders. She wanted to die at home. She worried about her cabbage, beans, tomatoes and the various other vegetables that she was growing. Her physicians agreed that work in her gardens kept her spirits up. She was in her massive garden sitting on her little cart rolling herself up and down the row as she picked green beans and other vegetables daily for 3 weeks. She passed quietly late one night in the arms of her companion. She wrote her will on the back of an old envelope giving her small farm to whomever would live in the house and care for the land.

The Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden

The Teaching Garden at The Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden is dedicated to contributing to the sustainability of life within Englewood and beyond. There is NO PLANET B. Our children must teach their children to preserve the one we have.

The Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden is supported and maintained by a Village of Lifelong Learners who have volunteered to aid in the STEAM Education at a Community level of the children in Englewood. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) We support the concept of creating and maintaining a year round School Garden at each School in Englewood and work towards that end in a partnership with the School System.

Pre K and beyond are welcome as we share this journey of moving towards bringing residents closer to nature while incorporating elements that will help them succeed in school. We partner with the Schools and members of the Community to help children understand the value of;

- working together as a community,

- preserving the Environment while

- growing their own food,

- eating healthy

- fighting obesity

- malnutrition and

- giving to those less fortunate.

Everything that we are depends on maintaining a healthy planet. All life depends on the capacity of humans to grow and maintain the land in a clean and healthy way.

We are on a quest to improve the Environmental conditions on our School grounds and in our City. We hope to be instrumental in the formation of a sustainable NJ School System . We are encouraging EPSD to take constructive steps towards becoming a United States Department of Education Green Ribbon School District.

Cabbage: Another of the World's Healthiest Foods

Protection Outside

Be careful of the natural elements and other living things when working, entertaining, or playing in the yard. Chemicals & poison end up in the ground water. They kill the good bees, bugs and helpful garden life. use organic solutions and try not to change your ecosystem. Those same chemicals get back into your tap water.They may cause potential harm to you, your children, your pets and other wildlife. Protect your eyes, skin and hands while you work. Put "off" on your clothes, not your skin. If you have a small yard, use a manual mower.