My inspiration to go edible came from a Sunset Books publication titled “The Edible Garden” that I found at Powell’s Bookstore in Portland, OR in 2008 (if you visit Portland, you MUST GO to Powell’s Bookstore http://www.powells.com/). It was a Mother’s Day gift to myself and it was a gift that kept on giving.
As I’ve said before, I had grown weary of weeding and watering my perennial gardens. “The Edible Garden” was a beautiful book and it gave me the confidence to make some changes. I poured over it for the next few weeks and began to rethink the yard.I took my new frame of mind to my father’s home to help him with my mother’s garden. My mom had died unexpectedly the previous summer and he was daunted by her large flower gardens.
“Can I take out some of these flowers and put in some vegetables?” he asked.
"You can do whatever you'd like," I told him.
My cousins and I helped him move the flowers to the border gardens and the big bed in the center was converted to a vegetable garden. The planters on the decks were filled with herbs instead of geraniums that year.
A friend’s yard became suddenly sunny when a neighbor’s tree was removed. She started with a single hanging basket, a “pizza” one, planted with a “Tumbling Tom” tomato plant, basil, and oregano. Each year, she adds a new container planting of food.
Another friend called me last week. Rumor had it that the empty lot across the street was being turned into a community garden. She fantasized about her own plot of beets, just beets.
With a three day weekend on the horizon, plan to put aside some time just to dream. Pick up a book at a local bookstore or library. Grab a glossy magazine from the shelf at the grocery store. There is still plenty of time to get some plants into the garden.
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