Re: [gardeners] Where I garden
margaret lauterbach (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Thu, 03 Feb 2000 07:42:16 -0700
At 08:19 PM 2/2/2000 -0600, you wrote:
>Saw several posts here from folks letting us know where they garden and
>live so thought I would chip in.
>
>We live in SouthWest Louisiana, about 30 miles from the Texas border
>where I10 crosses. As a matter of fact we only live about 4 blocks from
>I10.
>
>Miz Anne (my wife of 39 years), Sleepy Dawg (our Rat Terrier female),
>and I are, I suppose, urban gardeners. We have a fairly large house on a
>city lot that's about 70 by 150 feet so we garden mostly in the back
>yard. The front is reserved for lawn and various flower beds that Miz
>Anne tends plus a very large white oak tree.
>
>The back has a slope such that the edge next to the house is about 6
>feet higher than the back fence line. In this area we have a 17X24
>raised bed garden for veggies, a 30 inch X 90 foot strip garden down the
>west fence line that has flowers, veggies, and fruit trees. An 8X12
>green house attached to the east end of the main garden, a 12X22 herb
>garden that runs up to the south side of the carport. And down the back
>fence line we have 10 blueberry bushes, a short row of Sunchokes, a
>short row of raspberries, and a couple of Mayhaw trees. Slotted around
>in the rest of the area are a Ponderosa lemon tree, 2 kumquat trees, 1
>aprium and 1 pluot tree, and a Kieffer pear tree, all dwarfs but the
>lemon tree. Additionally we have a group planting of azaleas, gardenias,
>and various other plants up next to the driveway and under the 3 large
>oak trees that are there.
>
>We actually grow enough veggies on our intensively planted plots to feed
>ourselves, a number of friends, and have some to give away to the local
>soup kitchens on occasion. I do most of the preserving, canning, and
>freezing, also the cooking and shopping, and Miz Anne does much of the
>"heavy" work around the place, ie mowing and raking. We both crawl
>around in the dirt planting and harvesting. Sleepy Dawg mostly lies in
>the sunshine napping and guarding us from any boggles that may be
>around. Lately she's shown an increased interest in the greenhouse so I
>may have some mice overwintering there.
>
>We're both semi-retired, I work about 20 hours a week and Miz Anne is an
>art teacher and artist. We left the corporate rat race in 1991 just
>prior to my second heart attack (wish I'd waited until after money wise)
>and found out we could live on a lot less money than we ever expected.
>Our needs and wants are modest so life is indeed very good for us.
>
>It is the middle of our winter here, temps in the low forties at night
>getting up into the high fifties during the daytime but with windchills
>from the north wind making it uncomfortable to be outside much.
>
>It is also the time of year when we start our seeds for planting out in
>March. Right now we have 4 varieties of pepper, 3 varieties of tomato, 2
>varieties of eggplant, and 1 variety of edible gourd started and growing
>under the lights in my home office. Sleepy and I spend a lot of time
>tending them, ie watching them grow, and I'm trying to teach her to blow
>on them to help them grow better but she doesn't seem to understand the
>concept. ;-)
>
>I'm also the listowner for this modest group of gardening fanatics and
>inherited it long enough ago that I can't remember exactly when. We've
>still got most of the first half dozen folks to sign up although a few
>of them are lurking a lot.
>
>Anyone else out there?
>
>George
>
I've been here since the beginning too, George, and know that you're one of
the smartest gardeners around, getting successive crops off the same
ground. I think you're using horse pucky and compost for fertilizer, but I
don't know how you water. Do you just get enough rain? Lucky, lucky, lucky.
Margaret L