I’d been married a week or two when my mother-in-law showed up one day in mid-June, with trowel, spade, hoe, markers, and a basket full of seeds. She’d ordered my father-in-law to plow up a small space in the yard earlier, anticipating that I’d give-in to her statement, “You simply must plant a garden now that you live on a farm.”
She set about explaining seeds, the information on the packet, and how to hoe a row. I’ll be honest; I was not all that interested. I thought I was way too young to care about gardens, vegetables, and canning, but whether I liked it or not, a vegetable garden was going to be part of my life. That first garden was a complete disaster. I avoided it as much as possible, making no excuses for the weeds choking the plants. The only thing that really grew well in my first garden was a yellow crookneck squash that I had no idea what to do with, so I peeled it, fried it, and ruined it.
The next year, my parents and my mother-in-law saw to it that I planted my garden earlier. Peas in the ground on Good Friday, followed by lettuce, green beans, sweet corn, tomatoes galore, beets, carrots, and that pesky yellow crookneck squash went into the ground. This year my parents made certain I weeded and hoed it every once in awhile. I’m sure they visited so often that summer, with hoes in hand, to keep the garden respectable…well as much as possible.
Gardening was growing on me…a little.
My mother-in-law saw to it from day one that a few flowers were included in the garden. Old-fashioned annuals, like zinnias, calendulas, cosmos, bachelor’s buttons, and marigolds, grew courageously amidst dock, milkweed, and all the weeds that found a hospitable home in my garden in those early years.
One day my mother-in-law stopped by and said, “You simply must join garden club.” I politely turned her down deciding that growing a garden was enough. Anyone who ever knew my mother-in-law would all agree that she was a stubborn woman. Every once in a while she’d say…”You simply must join garden club.” She finally talked me into going to a holiday flower show and suggesting that I make up a couple arrangements, just for fun, of course. I won my first blue ribbon for an evergreen design on an old rug beater. I was stunned and hooked. I’d found a passion, beyond playing the piano.
I joined garden club, grew bigger and better gardens, and journeyed into perennials and gardens explicitly for flowers. At one point I had a large vegetable garden, herb garden, perennial garden, cutting garden, and beds of flowers and herbs.
All the gardening and growing transformed into a business selling herbs, flowers, and all manner of gardening books, supplies, and designs. Windy Corner herbs & flowers became my escape. Life twists and turns like a hanging flower basket in a strong wind and for a while the garden gate slammed shut. A few pots of flowers on a deck or porch were my garden for several years.
I have my mother-in-law, a strong woman with character and substance and my gardening parents to thank for this growing passion. So this year, I simply must plant a garden and so I will. What’s your garden story? Did someone influence you to plant vegetables, herbs, and flowers? Did you discover your green thumb as a child or later? Did you plan on gardening or stumble upon it? I’d love to hear your story.
All photos were taken by me last year and none are my garden, but I will be posting photos the brand-spankin' new garden.
