The Amazon-Garden

When we moved into our beach townhouse two years ago, the backyard was a blank space and its offerings were simple. There was an outside shower, a small table, a few chairs, and a fence with glimmers of a pond in the background. It was an ideal place for vacationer’s but those staying a while, something was missing.

Our backyard garden began with our ten-year-old and store-bought lettuce. Zahara had discovered propagating – the magic of putting the head of lettuce into a jar of water and watching as new-green leaves grew from the center.
When my mother, the gardener in our family visited, she and Zahara drove to the garden center. They returned and spent the afternoon in the backyard planting lettuce and scallions in an old kitchen cupboard. Zahara’s small garden-in-a-cupboard inspired me to create one of my own. And although Chris joked about me creating the Amazon Jungle, he silently supported and assisted me.

One Saturday morning after coffee, we went on a date to Lowe’s Garden Center. Because Chris is a firm believer in planting foods we can eat, we picked out veggies and herbs. We placed spicy oregano, mint, thyme, basil, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers into our cart. He brought home pallets, I painted them white, and they served as garden beds for our pineapples.

A community of women helped me add the pretty.
Last Easter, when our church beautified the sanctuary with Easter lilies then discarded them like trash, I brought home a few bulbs. A church friend overheard me talking about my plants and she offered me a saber palm, aloe, rain lilies, and dessert rose succulents. Barbara, my 81-year-old BFF, gave me Texas petunias, red and yellow Chrysanthemums, and Amaryllis bulbs from her backyard.

In the afternoons, when the day is kissing the night hello, we are in our Amazon-garden adding soil to the roots, fixing stakes for tomato vines to run, watering plants, or reclining in our hammock.

Don’t be a ghost.

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What are you growing in your garden this spring?