Southern Roots: Planting Time

I have had a garden somewhere, somehow, always. My first remembrance was in Hidden Hills of Chapel Hill, NC. We had 11 acres of woods filled with large lichen covered gray boulders, wisteria vines, moss beds where pixies played, rabbit burrows and copper head snakes. Kitty Murphy, my protective mother, always had a hoe by the back door and killed 28 copper head snakes one summer. One got "Smokey" the only cat who was "mine." I found him in the garden next to my mint bed...Between our garden and the small pond where bass and brim were abundant, most of our food supply was available. During the 2 years that my doctor daddy was in the sanatorium with TB, we literally lived off the land. When he was home, I do recall this tube of pest spray that he dusted the vegetable foliage with often. It was DDT and it killed the bugs...I grew curly mint and sold it to the local Fowler's Food store for 5 cents a bunch. Later, sister Karen, who, by the way, the stork delivered to us in a basket by the pond, grew cucumbers and was known as "cucumber Kate."

Have had gardens on the fire escape in NYC, where thankfully there were no fires, even one in Martha Stewart's Westport garden, when we were best buds and I also did food styling for her. Had an unsuccessful try in Beverly Hills with a sometimes beau, whose name I will not reveal, but he always had a tan. He wanted to grow some "weed" and I am not talking about the kind that just sprout up and strangle your plants...Had a garden in Atlanta called "the Children's Garden" where I taught kids the process of preparing, planting, patience and reaping and what to do with it next...Then, back in NC, it all began again...The new "Secret Garden" is in old Forest Hills and the land is owned by a professor friend who loaned me the turf. Zivko, my Croatian friend rotor tilled this 25 X 12 ft. space of good top soil with a clay base. Assistant Olga and I began to rake the already to rise again weeds and added more top soil. We mapped the garden into quadrants. In the first, we planted lettuces and onions as the spring weather was still cool enough hopefully to make harvesting easy.