Last column, I asked interested readers if I could visit their gardens. I would love to knock on some of the household doors of gardens I’ve admired from afar, but I like privacy, too, and prefer folks to volunteer. If you’re interested in talking to me about your garden and possibly having it printed in Flagpole, you can reach me at [email protected].
Three years ago, Caro Caden watched as a professional gardener made a mistake and killed special plants at a historic garden. The plants died, but the gardener kept his job. “That made me feel confident,” Caden said. “This is just gardening.”
That is a great lesson for anyone interested in growing. Every farmer, grower and gardener can tell some horror story of a bad decision that led to unexpected death. But, you learn from your mistakes—or if you’re smart, like Caden, from someone else’s mistakes—and keep trying.
Caden felt emboldened and decided to dig in the small garden plot against their rented Athens house and below their window. A previous tenant started the garden and then moved, leaving it in need of another caretaker, they said. “The first year I did cucumbers, and they took over my entire garden,” they said.
After the cuke-vine annexation, Caden decided last year to pick a disco theme for the garden, inspired by the bright orange and fuschia Disco Diva hibiscus. Orange creme colored Super Trouper dianthus and a large lantana brought butterflies and a swath of color to the garden.
“I decided to go all out on peppers this year,” they said. A healthy jalapeño plant sporting many developing fruits and an even taller bell pepper plant looms in the rear of the plot.
Picking a theme (like disco) or anchor plant (like peppers) can help focus a garden space if you’re not sure what you want to plant. Your inspiration might come from a single plant, or from your favorite produce at the farmer’s market.
Besides the peppers, Caden mixed herbs and flowers for a lovely and beneficial array, including chives, a toothache plant (also known as a spilanthes or eyeball plant), lavender, holy basil (also known as tulsi), marigolds and vincas. Placing flowers next to veggies helps pollinators visit both sites. Lack of pollinators can result in a smaller harvest, and poor pollination can cause deformity and twisting in veggies like cucumbers and squash. Cucumbers and squash are susceptible because they have male and female flowers and require animal pollination, not wind, to reproduce.
During our interview, a young buck whipped through the neighborhood looking lost and clambering down city streets and backyards. Caden said that’s the first deer they’ve seen, and they haven’t dealt with the cloven-hoofed fiends many Athens residents battle in garden spaces.
Fierce fire ants present the biggest bother, Caden said. They use a pelleted spinosad, an insecticide laid out a little at a time so the ant colony doesn’t conquer the garden.
Spinosad comes in organic and non-organic forms. It can affect non-target insects; however, spinosad’s biggest threat is its toxicity to fish. Caden doesn’t live near a waterway and is using a minimal amount. Gardeners closer to waterways or ponds using spinosad might want to consider using smaller, targeted applications or switching to a different insecticide.
Caden recently graduated from the University of Georgia with a Master’s in nonprofit management. This summer, they’ll move to New York City and look for work with a museum or theater. Besides a new job, Caden hopes to join a community garden in their new home and meet up with more queer gardeners. Watching plants grow and change and meeting people who enjoy the same will be a pleasure.
They hope the next renter will take interest in the garden plot and keep it going. Hopefully, the peppers and flowers inspire someone else to grow their green thumb.
Caden’s enjoyed their garden during the last three years and believes it’s now a lifetime interest. “It’s really nice, though, because it’s been so therapeutic,” they said. “It’s such a fun hobby and a great workout.”
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