by Sylvester Pierpoint (aka John Jeffries)

Created on: May 15, 2009   Last Updated: October 26, 2009

MY GREAT, TRUE, PERSONAL GARDEN STORY - My wife worked in an upscale woman's store, located in Atlanta, Georgia, doing alterations for their customers. In the course of this employment she met a lady contractor who had just completed building a complete subdivision on an old farm just slightly southwest of the city. She liked my wife very much and was instrumental in us being able to buy our first home.

She offered to help us buy the house if my wife would agree to sew for her at home once in a while which she did. The builder took care of all the paperwork including closing costs and we moved in immediately. The house she saved for us was a beautiful three bedroom, one bath, brick home on a large wooded lot.

We loved it, especially the wild dogwood, huge pines and sassafras trees that filled the back of the lot. What we didn't like was the large wild cud sues vines that nearly completely covered many of the trees. It took a lot of back-breaking work to clear the entire thick under growth and small unwanted pines from the rear of the lot. I decided to make use of some of the unwanted pines and built a small log playhouse for our daughter.

The next priority was to find the right spot for a vegetable garden. When you think of Georgia you automatically think of red clay. Well, I had plenty of red clay but I was determined to make things grow anyway. My next door neighbor had already installed a chain link fence on the property line before I moved in. As it turned out the old farmer had a drainage ditch that ran across the area and the builder left it there to help keep the land from flooding. The ditch was completely covered over by the cud sues. The dirt on the side of the ditch however was very rich and would make a good place for a garden. When I told my wife about my plans for a garden she just looked at me and laughed.

John, she said, You're just a city boy, what do you know about a garden?

You'll see, I replied, I know a lot more about it than you think, just wait, you'll see.

Unbeknownst to her my family always had a garden when I was growing up and I learned much about growing things. I had decided the spot I wanted to use was the one that ran along the metal fence my neighbor had installed. Small wild strawberries already grew there as well as volunteer wild cherry tomatoes. I visited my local Sears store and bought a Rota tiller and asked the salesman for advice on preparing the soil. He told me what I needed

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