“She Was Sweeping Her Garden”
Video
Recently a group of our Scott County and McCreary County Garden Participants took an educational field trip to the raised bed garden of Mrs. Cora Wilson. We all were so impressed with how well her beautiful garden was laid out. Her raised beds were about 40 feet long, and she had six of them. One bed was dedicated to strawberries. She was in the process of renovating her strawberries from one bed to another. In the bed where her new strawberry plants were planted, she took advantage of the free space that will be filled in by the growing strawberry plants and had lettuce and green onions growing. It was great way to double crop in the same growing space.
Two other beds were dedicated to tomato plants. In these beds she had what I would describe as a genius idea. Down the center of the bed she had t-post (Fence post) with fence panels, called cattle fence, attached to these posts. She tied the tomato plants to the cattle fence as the tomato plants grew.
I also saw something in her beds that I was very curious about. She had gallon size black pots buried every few feet in a couple of her raised beds. These were the kind of pots in which you typically get plants from nursery and then discard. When I asked her about the pots, she explained that she plants tomatoes on either side of the pot and fills the pots with water and fertilizer. This allows the water to seep into the tomato plants thru the drainage holes in the bottom of the pot. WOW! What a great idea, I thought. She took what would be trash in anyone else’s garden, repurposed it, and solved a garden dilemma for many gardeners concerning watering. In the other beds she raised green beans and various other crops. Another interesting thing was that she had a special material, called Sheer weave, laid down over the walkways that totally eliminated weeding of any kind. She shared with us all how funny it was for her to go out and sweep her garden. In addition to her raised beds, she had a traditional garden where she planted other things she wanted to grow.
It was such a treat to visit her garden. We all took away some new idea that we can use in our own gardens. I am constantly amazed by the resourcefulness of gardeners. I felt privileged that she shared her beautiful garden with us.
And by the way I might add there wasn’t a weed in sight.
Leave A Comment