Country gardens - Special Issue: Spring-Summer 1994 Garden Guide

Sunset, Spring-Summer, 1994 by Nancy Davidson, Lynn Ocone, Lauren Bonar Swezey

From Puget Sound to Colorado to Arizona's red rock country, gardeners are growing casual but bountiful gardens--filled with vegetables or flowers or both Whether located on the edge of wildland or in the heart of a city, gardens with a country look have two things in common: They combine vegetables with herbs or flowers in a casual but colorful jumble, and no matter how small they are, they yield abundant crops. On these eight pages, we show four fruitful country gardens around the West. Three adjoin wildland and began by challenging their owners with adverse soil or climate or both; one is a small city garden. All offer lessons.

Near Telluride, Colorado: a high-yield homesteader's garden

This sprawling high-country garden, on an 1895 homestead on Hastings Mesa, remains as productive today as it was almost 100 years ago. Jeanine and Alan Bradbury live in the adjacent 1912 house and tend the 80- by 80-foot garden.

Alan Bradbury, a certified arborist, first gardened here alongside Lee Proper, son of the original homesteader. Now both Bradburys are seasoned gardeners who greet the 90-day growing season at 9,000-foot elevation with confidence. They grow mostly cool-season crops--broccoli, cabbage, leafy greens, root crops, and peas. Quick-growing summer squash thrives as well.

In May, the Bradburys start some seeds in the greenhouse. Just after the last frost hits, about June 10, they plant these seedlings in the garden. On June 1, they direct-sow seeds of other vegetables; the germinating plants usually break the soil just after the last frost. On July 1, the Bradburys plant a second crop of radishes and fast-growing greens like lettuce.

They sow seeds in double rows 8 inches apart. Seedlings for plants such as broccoli and cabbage are spaced 2 feet apart in single rows. The Bradburys plant the seedlings in holes cut in reusable landscape fabric, which smothers weeds. Between rows and in garden paths, they mulch with straw. Alan Bradbury uses a hoe with an oscillating blade to remove any weeds that grow through the straw. The Bradburys use no commercial fertilizers or pesticides. To maintain soil fertility, they till in horse and chicken manure, old straw that had covered the paths, and compost they make from garden and farm waste.

Pests are few at this high elevation. Ducks, released in the garden once the plants are established, eat cabbage worms and grubs.

The Bradburys share the garden's bounty with their neighbors and local restaurants.

In Sedona, lush looks--and no chemicals

Yearning for the taste of homegrown vegetables, Ludmila and Don Loisy decided to try their hand at gardening. In just two years, hard work and tender loving care transformed a backyard weed patch in Sedona, Arizona, into a colorful, productive, and chemical-free vegetable garden. But first, the Loisys had to overcome obstacles.

Sedona's majestic red rock cliffs create a dramatic backdrop for lush green plants, but gardening can be difficult here. The climate is cold and snowy in winter, windy in spring, and scorching in summer. Late-spring frosts can make planting time unpredictable. The hard sandstone soil is alkaline and full of fist-size rocks.

Neighbors also warned the Loisys that rodents, rabbits, and insects could destroy a garden.

To improve the soil structure, the novice gardeners removed dozens of rocks by hand, then rotary-tilled in a truckload of horse manure.

To reduce the possibility of wind damage and to discourage animals, Don Loisy enclosed the garden with a 5-foot redwood fence; 2-inch-wide spaces between diagonal slats allow air to circulate through the garden.

In early spring each year, two weeks before planting, the Loisys turn a 3-inch layer of homemade compost into the soil. After seedlings emerge, compost is spread around each plant; its dark color helps heat the soil.

Careful selection of plants helps ward off insect pests, and the Loisys are willing to overlook occasional bug holes in leafy greens like cabbage. Close planting helps prevent weed growth. Ludmila Loisy also groups compatible plants: tomatoes shade more heat-sensitive carrots, sunflowers provide afternoon shade for cucumbers and tomatoes, and corn shades late peas and squash. To discourage insect pests, the Loisys plant garlic, onions, and marigolds between rows throughout the garden; dill grows adjacent to beets and cabbage. Marigolds, along with zinnias and flowering herbs, also encourage beneficial insects such as bees (for pollination) and praying mantises (which feed on aphids and other pests).

Planting begins in March with cool-season crops--carrots, green onions, radishes, and spinach. Tomatoes go in after the last frost (mid-April). Ludmila Loisy waits until May, when the soil is thoroughly warm, to plant beans, cucumbers, and peppers.

In June, when temperatures can reach 90 |degrees~, the Loisys spread straw under plants to help cool the soil. Ooze tubing, with individual shutoffs, runs throughout the garden to keep plants irrigated. When temperatures reach 90 |degrees~, established plants get water once a week; when temperatures climb above 100 |degrees~, shallow-rooted plants need water every other day.