Home & Garden: Lessons from the Garden

Lessons from the Garden with Tennessee Kitchen Gardens

In my early twenties, I started gardening in hopes of ending world hunger. I was an idealistic college grad living in Guatemala. My neighbors were extremely malnourished, and gardening seemed to be an obvious solution.

My plan fizzled when leaf-cutter ants carried away my cucumber plants and rains flooded my lima beans. My beets survived, but the village children looked at me like I was crazy when I tried to give away baskets of the earthy red root.

Gardening may not have solved the world’s problems, but it became my place to escape. A few years later, when I transitioned to a stressful career in urban education, my garden was relegated to terracotta pots while teaching in Houston, a window box in Denver, and a scrap-wood raised bed in Nashville. I wrangled ninth graders in the mornings, and when I returned to my yard each afternoon, I kicked off my high heels and lost myself in the dirt.

During the early days of the pandemic, my garden hobby shifted to something more. Friends called to inquire about my knowledge, and the idea of a “garden coach” popped up on social media. My first client was an elderly neighbor who needed a more accessible garden. Her three simple raised beds and a few lessons on kale and carrots became a business in the making.

After three years of designing and installing gardens, here are my takeaways:

Build Raised Beds

Tennessee has clay soil and although it is nutrient-dense, vegetable roots struggle to break into the tightly locked clay particles. We are also stricken with Bermuda grass, which spreads on aggressive runners – raised beds address those two challenges. I use a mix of topsoil, sand and mushroom compost to ensure an abundant harvest.

Add Verticals

Make efficient use of your space by growing climbing plants like tomato, cucumber and peas up an obelisk or over an arch. These trellises support plants that can otherwise get unwieldy, and they provide more visual interest in the garden.

Garden All Year

Raised beds warm up more quickly than in-ground garden beds, and we can plant for at least ten months out of the year. My clients and I have been eating lettuce, kale and spinach since January! It’s easy to add hoops and a frost cover to raised beds so you can have a mini greenhouse of cool-season crops through the dreariest of winter days.