2010 McKinney Garden Club Garden Tour

Well, today’s the day that we’ve been preparing for for months. I’m looking forward to the POST-tour glass of wine. Our house is the third on the 2010 tour, presented by the McKinney Garden Club. All of the homeowners and docents took a pre-tour on Friday morning, since we won’t be able to see the other gardens on Saturday. I admit to feeling a little inadequate in the face of much older gardens than ours. But in the end we adore our little plot of land, so that feeling won’t last long.

Jan is firing up the oven at 6 am and will be serving bread from about 11 am, as long as it lasts. His oven has gotten a lot of attention during this process, so I expect he’ll be mobbed tomorrow.

Ella is acting as docent of her own garden, which she has gussied up with a sign and a couple of little statues. I’ll get a photo. I love it. She got so much attention today from the garden club women. I thought it was adorable, but I think Ella was a little overwhelmed. I’ll be lucky if both of my family members don’t run inside and hide at some point today!

Anyway, I wrote up a little handout that gives a quick run-down of our garden and thought I’d post it here:

406 Heard St (Oriental-style craftsman – built approximately 1917)

Ours is a relatively new garden. We’ve been focusing on the front vegetable garden since we moved in three years ago, and have just recently expanded into the back garden. The entire garden centers around food, as do our lives, frankly. Many of the herbs and vegetables end up on pizza and in bread that is cooked in our backyard brick oven.

 

We use 100% organic cultivation methods, based strongly on good soil culture as opposed to organic pest treatments, of which we use almost none. As you’ll notice, I tolerate a certain amount of pest damage as long as the plant is still relatively healthy and producing well. If the pest overwhelms the plant, I consider my run with the plant to be done rather than trying to save it using heroic methods. That keeps my small garden producing well.

 

I applied expanded shale once to all of the front beds to break up the clay, and I incorporate compost into each bed before plating a new crop – which works out to about twice a year. Then I mulch to conserve water. When I fertilize, which is sporadically, I use an organic slow-release 7-2-2 that can be purchased at the Collin County Feed & Seed on Chestnut Street.

 

The ongoing harvest includes:

tomatoes

purple pole beans

peppers

 

This spring, we’ve already completed harvest of:

garlic

shallots

onions

peas

lettuce

 

Immediately after the tour, we will harvest:

soybeans

carrots

corn

 

In July we will start planting the fall garden, which may include eggplants, potatoes, pumpkins, and a second planting of tomatoes and peppers.

 

Upcoming projects include:

drip irrigation, front and back

hardscaping, including a patio around the brick oven

 

There is a chance that we’ll be relocating early next year, but we’re hoping we can find someone to pass the house to who will continue with the vision of an urban food oasis.

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