Garden Stories

Carolyn Schenler

              

My first garden was up the hill, where the Terrace now stands. (Editor’s note: Amazing- This was two gardens ago!)   My next door neighbor here, Mr. Hammer, (where the Rexons now live) talked me into taking it when it was vacated earlier.  We gardeners used to park under the shade of an old, old oak tree next to the water tower up there.

What I was not told, was that a strip in the rear of the plot had been “loaned out” to two other resident friends.  So, later, that got me into a bit of a pickle!

AND, after spending one whole afternoon trimming a huge rose bush there for the coming summer, here came a lady the next morning, with a BIG axe over her shoulder, and a long shovel.  “I’ve come to take my mother’s rose bush!!” she declared . . . with a big tall man behind her!  No one had told me about her coming, either!!  I later learned that she had been notified, much earlier, that if she wanted anything from her mother’s garden, to come and take the plants.

But she hadn’t.  So, upon hearing that I had just trimmed the rose bush the afternoon before, she proceeded to hack the big heritage Double Delight Rose down the middle with her axe, then to dig out and take, with the man’s help, one big half of the bush!!

Later, we all got our gardens moved down the hill, in preparation for the Terrace Building.  I moved all my plants including three thorny rose bushes.  Next, came plans for the Memory Support Center, . . . so, it was “Move again.” But, again, they moved my three thorny rose bushes.  And, guess what, . . . the Double Delight Rose still has the most beautiful blossoms of any Double Delight Rose I have encountered! It handles moves better than most of us do!

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Grant Koch

          

We arrived at the Manor just after the gardens were moved to the current location.  A “friend” who had already been here for a few years, had signed me up for a garden space (I’ve been advised not to use the word plot on campus) which was at the bottom of the hill near his garden.  Fine with me, I thought.  Nice view, near a friend, couldn’t be better, so I immediately signed up for an additional space adjacent to mine.  Now, what to plant besides the obvious tomatoes, strawberries and some herbs? I’ve always loved snow peas in a stir-fry or in salads, carrots and string beans, so those all went into the ground.  As the seeds

The Fox

began sprouting, I noticed something seemed to be chewing on my precious babies.  Anxious to learn who or what was doing the damage, I set a motion-activated camera down on the ground and waited.  I soon had pictures of a fox, skunks and opossums, none of which seemed too interested in my little sprouts, but then the ground squirrels showed their cute but evil faces. These were Southern invaders from the

                          the squirrel

dreaded California territory, not the beautiful Oregon Golden Mantel ground squirrels and they were up to no good.  Being at the bottom of the hill where the border fence meant to protect us from critters and golfers is virtually useless,  I was being overrun by an army of squirrels.  Even the solar powered electric fence I installed was useless against the squirrels.  They run through it so quickly they don’t notice a thing, although it does help against larger animals, including humans.  I’ve since given up on peas and beans, but strawberries will always be in the garden even if I have to share.

Directly below my vegetable garden are two more adjacent spaces which no one at the time seem interested in taking over so I asked if I could plant some grapes there.  Before moving to the Manor, I was responsible for about 20 acres of wine grapes and I couldn’t seem to get the urge to continue that work out of my system, so I planted two dozen Syrah vines.  At least

Grant’s Grapes

three years are required for new vines to produce a reasonable harvest. This year, my first harvest gave up approximately 200 pounds of fruit which I picked, squished with my feet and pressed in an old wine press.  I now have 11 gallons (about 4 cases) of rose ageing, which I hope will be ready to drink in a couple of months.  I chose rose for two reasons.  First, the fruit from young vines can be of questionable quality and second, chances of smoke taint are less in white and rose wines since the skins where the smoke first settles are quickly separated from the juice.  In the future, I hope to try my hand at making a traditional deep dark Syrah.