About Us
A Lifetime in the Garden

I have gardened for as long as I can remember. I am fourth or fifth generation Oregonian, depending on which side of the family you count.

Five of my direct ancestors crossed the Oregon Trail between 1847 and 1853 and settled the Willamette Valley on donation land claims. My roots here run deep.

My parents bought an 80-acre farm in the Willamette Valley in 1960. My husband and I still own half of it today.

I started learning to garden alongside my parents when I was a little child, long before I had a garden of my own.

Early Gardening Memories

Me with a head of lettuce grown in my raised bed vegetable garden.

My grandmother had a large, neatly organized garden, with an extra-tall fence to keep the deer out. I remember helping her shell peas for dinner, and tasting them fresh from the pod.

My parents always kept a vegetable garden too. As a child, that meant hoeing weeds on hot summer days. It meant endless harvesting and canning of green beans, beets, corn, peppers, and tomatoes. It meant digging and storing potatoes, cabbage, squash, and onions for winter.

At the time, it felt like hot, tedious work. Now, I am deeply grateful for every bit of it.

Back to the Present

My own vegetable gardens are smaller these days. My husband tends most of it now, and between us we grow just what we can eat or share through the summer.

I still make fresh freezer jam every year. Peach, raspberry, and loganberry are our favorites. Hot baking powder biscuits with fresh jam and butter make an ordinary winter meal feel special.

I am not a "master gardener." I focus on simple, practical advice that works for real families, not perfection.

Several of my grandchildren loved helping Grandma in the garden when they were young. One of them, Charlie, lives with us and was often right there beside me, learning the same way I once did.

One day when he was about five years old, he ran outside, grabbed a handful of soil from the garden, dumped it into a small jar, and enthusiastically threw an avocado seed in on top of the soil. I didn't say anything to him, but it didn't seem to me at all likely that it would sprout and start to grow. I planned to just get rid of it after he forgot about it. But to my surprise, that avocado seed sprouted right away, and quickly started growing in the little jar.

Now I have a 7 foot tall avocado plant in our living room that grew from that seed many years ago. It's somewhat of a problem, but I can't bring myself to get rid of it!

He's in high school now, and he's more interested in other things these days, though that avocado tree still gets a lot of attention from both of us.

Uncle Jack's Garden

My Uncle Jack always kept a fabulous vegetable garden. He fed his entire extended family fresh produce all summer long. He really was a master gardener.

We all looked forward to his generous gifts of green beans, cucumbers, vine-ripened tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, carrots, onions, and zucchini. He kept his wife, Aunt Margaret, busy delivering trunks full of fresh produce nearly every day.

They have both passed away now. His garden remains a shining example of what patience and proper care can build.

A word of advice, while I'm remembering him: be very careful with zucchini. It is dangerously prolific. One or two plants can bury you and your entire neighborhood in zucchini if you let it.

I once watched the look of near despair on Aunt Margaret's face during week six of trunk-loads of zucchini, when people had started hiding when they saw her car coming.

Why This Site Exists

I started this site as a labor of love, and I have kept building it for seventeen years now. Everything here comes from real experience, not theory.

A technique I share has usually been tested in my own garden first, often more than once, often with my own family's mistakes built right into the lesson.

The Joy of Gardening

Spending time in the garden brings real pleasure, in spite of the occasional zucchini crisis. As I have gotten older, my own gardening has simplified.

Container gardening in particular is quick, easy, and much lighter on the body than a full in-ground plot.

If you haven't experienced that quiet pleasure yet, I hope you will make room for it. Gardening is a good way to slow down and connect with the natural world.

There is always something new to learn, and small, simple pleasures waiting to be found.

I wish you every joy and success in your own gardening adventures.

Have a great garden!