- Although the house was small, the the area behind the house that contained their expansive garden, was at least twice the footprint size of their home This is a 2020 photo of the space that was their garden, which now is used as the level back yard for the current owner. They planted peach and apple trees on the boundary between their house, and the next door neighbor's property. Those fruit trees produced so many peaches and apples, we had enough canned to supply several families through the winter! Besides canning the peaches and apples, they would cut up the "less than perfect" fruits, lay them out on a window screen in the sun, and dry them out for several days. These would be used for making delicious fried pies!
- My parents and I lived two blocks from the grandparents, and our house lot did not have such a good space for a garden, so they made arrangements with several of the neighbors, including the one that owned the vacant lot across the street, to set up a neighborhood "community garden", where anyone that wanted to, could plant their favorite vegetables, and tend to them as needed. When I drove by the old homeplace last week, I noticed the lot that was our former community garden, is still vacant, and is shown below:
Remembering how my Grandpa Grover made arrangements to have his garden plowed by an actual HORSE, I was amused to see that my son was using a different kind of "horsepower" in getting his garden site ready!
The heavy equipment was used to dig trenches for the underground irrigation system. That also was quite an upgrade from the watering system used by my grandparents---every family member carrying a bucket of water, and using a dipper to put a cup of water on each individual plant! It was quite a step up when my grandparents purchased a garden hose, with tiny holes in it, that would slowly wet the ground on a continuous basis---as long as someone turned on the water supply, that is. However, the system my son put in has a timer, so no human intervention is needed! Here is a photo of how the timer is set up:
The next step after the irrigation ditch was completed, was putting up the posts that marked the boundaries for the garden spot. His father and I had started a garden in the early seventies, and made the mistake of making it too big, so I had advised my son to start small, and judging from the layout of the posts, he took my advice!
The next step
was to put corrugated metal around the boundary, to help reduce visits by intruders such as rabbits. Above the metal, wire "hog" fencing was hung, to help reduce visits by deer, looking for some gourmet salad greens to add a little variety to their menus!
On top of the wire fence, wooden cross beams were added, and also doorways were put on each end. This is a photo of the garden room from the backyard:
My son mentioned several times that he wanted the garden to look "tidy", which is one reason they made the choices shown in these photos. They decided on a container garden, and purchased several metal farm animal feeding troughs to serve as their containers. Before filling the containers with anything, holes were drilled in the bottom, so that water would not accumulate, and cause problems:
When one is finding items to put on the inside walls of their home, it is called "Interior Decorating". Likewise, the wooden beams of this garden room, allows the owners to get creative with "Exterior Decorating" as well! Dragonfly hook and "Happy Place" sign are examples:
My son also built a small, enclosed shed adjacent to their garage, to hold their gardening tools.
On the opposite side of the garden area, he built a potting table, with a storage shelf underneath it.
The photo below shows the row of shiny new containers, and they actually have green plants coming up inside them!
However, what you see at the top of the container does not tell the whole story---to make soil where things will actually grow, one has to do some preparation. They put rocks on the bottom of the containers, so that water would drain to the bottom, and not cause the plant roots to rot.
On top of the river rock/gravel mixture, they put a layer of shredded bark:
This attention to getting a good soil mixture for the plants to grow in, is serving as the visual aid for one of my First Place 4 Health ( www.FirstPlace4Health.com ) memory verses that says: "But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it." Matthew 13:23
This photo shows that their soil preparation was successful!
Although my son did not spell out my name with leaf lettuce the way my grandparents did, I can imagine that these straight lines of leaf lettuce are simply "t's" that did not get crossed!!
Here is a photo of left side of garden:
My son's mother-in-law took a wonderful photo of him carrying his bride across the threshold of the new garden room, in honor of their wedding anniversary:
I am very thankful my son and his wife have taken on the challenge of growing some of their food, and hope it gives them "MILES OF SMILES"! Tricia
September 2020 Addendum: I had the wonderful blessing of getting to visit the Shipman garden during its harvest season, and can say the food they grew, made for some delicious meals! To God be the Glory!
For the purposes of a photograph (not to eat!), I carried a vintage jar of green beans from the garden of my grandmother, canned from green beans she and Grandpa Grover grew in the 1970's. I wanted to show that even though the gardening gene skipped a generation (me!), it has continued with her great grandson, Grover!
In addition to just doing photography in the Shipman garden, I was actually able to harvest, cook, and eat some of the produce they had grown (green beans, tomatoes, and spaghetti squash)! It was delicious!
I mentioned earlier in the blog that my grandparents would spell out my name in lettuce, so I could not pass up the opportunity to spell out my name with greens from the Shipman garden!
Also, earlier in the blog, I mentioned the phrase "Exterior Decorating", and brought some vintage family items, that I was hoping might find a space in the Shipman outdoor space: (The hanging scales on the left are from the barn of my paternal grandparents, and the red horseshoe-shaped metal item on the right, is my childhood game piece for playing marbles)
Another vintage item I transported from Arkansas to California was an oak and iron, two-horse stabilizer harness, that had belonged to my paternal grandparents. It most likely dates from the late 1800's when my ancestors first homesteaded in the area of Lead Hill, Arkansas: (It is the weathered wooden piece, sitting atop the modern metal hitch for the black utility trailer that my son uses)
