BUG Gardener: Christine
After some years of success growing mostly leafy greens in a very accessible, but partially shaded area of her yard, Christine decided to expand her 2021 garden to benefit from more sunshine and expand her family’s at-home food production.
I originally met Christine (and her husband, Steve, and son, Emory) at a mutual friend’s birthday party years ago and, then later, at Emory’s school when I was teaching emerging bilingual students and Christine led a baking elective. When their friend and neighbor, a Bend Urban Gardens client, accidentally got a delivery of ultra fine compost instead of ultrasoil to fill her new raised garden beds (oops!), Christine and Steve had come over to haul away the compost to amend their backyard landscape, and we reconnected. It was then that they fell in love with the beauty of their friend’s newly constructed restoration juniper garden beds. The smell of the freshly milled lumber helped, too.
In Mid-May, we moved forward with an on-site consultation to assess the site Christine and her family had in mind for their garden expansion. We evaluated the number of hours of direct sunlight present throughout the year, investigated the existing irrigation situation, and made a plan for grass removal.
Growing up with a woodworking dad, Christine had some experience with power tools, but didn’t yet own the tools she’d need to prep and build raised garden beds on her own. Her garden expansion project pushed her to make an investment in more tools! We built a 4’x8’x16” restoration juniper raised garden bed together, along with two mobile mini hoophouses to be moved from bed to bed as needed to help warm up cool spring soil and protect frost sensitive plants. I arranged for soil delivery, retrofitted an existing sprinkler nozzle to drip irrigation, and taught Christine how to lay drip line in the garden beds for effective application of water for annual veggie crops.
Through Bend Urban Gardens, Christine got in touch with Molly at Water Whys Irrigation, which for Christine, was “super empowering- I feel way more comfortable working with my old irrigation system- I’m no longer afraid to touch it and I have lots of plans to change around other parts of the yard.” She even managed to, on her own, cap a sprinkler when she realized water was pooling underneath one of her existing garden beds and deck.
Christine used her new tools, and the irrigation materials I supplied, to build her second raised garden bed on her own, including the installation of the remaining drip irrigation. This experience prepared her to add two more raised garden beds to her space all on her own, without assistance from Bend Urban Gardens!
While Emory helped fill the beds one small wheelbarrow load at a time, I created a personalized crop plan for the planned beds and cut row cover to be used for winter growing and to protect plants outside of the mini hoophouses during cold snaps. The family supplemented the plants they started indoors with purchases from Bend Urban Gardens throughout the season and hung up shade cloth to prevent too much stress for their heat sensitive crops during our record breaking hot summer.
When reflecting on the season, Christine shared, “ I had tons of tomatoes but didn’t quite get them in early enough I think. That said, throughout August we had a handful of cherry tomatoes every day so that was real nice but I wish I’d gotten them in a little sooner so that I’d have all the slicers too- which are just big and green on the vine in October. Hopefully next year I will be able to start everything earlier in those mobile hoop houses! The most successful thing we had was the kale, bok choy and lettuces. They were abundant through late August, September and into October. Check out Christine’s recipe for kale Caesar salad with nutty herb croutons!
She also said, “I had a lot of success with the delicata squash; I had one plant grow six large beautiful squash!” Christine even got a super cute mini butternut squash from her ‘Butter Baby’ plant. It was only slightly larger than her chicken eggs!
She’s grateful for what she can harvest from her backyard, “It’s super satisfying to make a meal that all the vegetables and herbs and eggs in the meal come from our backyard! It feels really special!”
Overall, she explained, “ aside from the gorgeous juniper that Ashley supplies… she is super easy to work with, approachable and flexible to fit my needs. I never felt like any question was too dumb and although I was already relatively comfortable in the garden I learned a lot about how to plant things together and in succession - and I was able to absorb that info way better than I ever have by reading a book about gardening. I definitely feel more empowered. Also, I now have all this garden space to start experimenting with- which I’m really looking forward to next spring!”
Since Christine participated in the construction of her raised garden beds alongside me, other new gardeners have done the same! It has been super rewarding to see so many women gain more confidence in using power tools. There’s something extra gratifying about constructing a new garden space alongside its future nurturer, connecting and investing energy into the space. I can’t wait to see how Christine’s garden evolves next season!
