Growing your own salad popular in this year’s Decatur backyards
By KATIE LESLIE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Photo: Kristin Allin spreads soil on a freshly planted red and purple carrots in her family’s garden Tuesday morning in Decatur. The Allin’s garden is one of the gardens featured in the Decatur Garden Tour.
Photo by: Jason Getz/jgetz@ajc.com
If the properties featured in this year’s Decatur Garden Tour are any indication, vegetables may be the new must-have for at-home gardening.
Take, for instance, Billy and Kristin Allin’s home on Superior Avenue.
At first glance, their backyard seems a well-groomed ornamental shade garden featuring a discreet koi pond, but walk several yards deeper into their lot and find a spacious vegetable garden filled with rows of tomatoes, okra, beets, carrots and more.
The owners of Cakes & Ale in downtown Decatur began growing at home with the intention to help supply fresh organic produce to their restaurant.
“It’s the freshness,” Kristin Allin says. “We can pick it and serve it the same day.”
Next door neighbors Lauren and Joey Burby grow vegetables such as lettuce, cabbage and peppers on a much smaller scale. Lauren, who says she typically grows herbs, decided to experiment with vegetables in two raised beds and containers this year after watching her neighbors’ garden flourish.
“I thought, if I can make a salad out of my backyard, that’s a great thing,” she says.
The best part, she adds, is that her 4-year-old son Conor enjoys lending a hand.
“He thinks the 4-by-4[-foot] bed is all his. Thankfully, that’s the one that is flourishing.”
Organizer Ruby Bock of Woodlands Garden, one of the public gardens on the circuit, said this year’s Decatur tour teaches that one need not be a serious gardener to grow at home. Most of the gardens are managed by working professionals who till their soil in their spare time.
“I kind of like that, because it’s not so intimidating,” she says.
Still, those seeking the wow factor should visit the garden of famed designer Ryan Gainey, who will lead walk through his landscape Saturday morning. Landscapers Jeff Hayden and Susan Devine’s home on Oak Lane is also among the tour’s more elaborate gardens. Their landscape features an impressive Japanese Maple collection and rock pond and waterfall the industrious duo built from reclaimed granite stone, as well retainer walls composed of stone from the former DeKalb landmark Scottdale Mills.
EVENT
20th annual Decatur Garden Tour: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets $25. Special events include plant sales, children’s activities, lectures, raffle and evening tours with wine and music. For event schedule and ticket locations, visit www.decaturgardentour.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment