Note: Across the country, the lagging economy, increased interest in healthy foods and a quest for home-grown all-ages activities has led to an increase in the number of backyard gardens. This is the first in a series about local gardeners, their plots and the reasons they grow.
As sure as summer follows spring, gardens are popping up all over Iola. Some are lush with perennial growth, others are freshly dug, sporting flowers or vegetables where — until recently — was dense sod.
One such garden, small compared to Elm Creek Community Garden just down the street, is nevertheless a source of pride for gardener Lanita Jay and her sons.
Kendall, 11, actively helps out, weeding and watering. His younger brother Riley, 7, assists as well, Jay said.
Even four-year-old William “helps me pull weeds every day,” Jay said.
“This is our first time ever” attempting a garden, Jay noted.
“My parents have huge gardens in Oklahoma, where I grew up, and they always gave stuff to people at church,” she said.
In fact, her dad’s garden is almost as large as Elm Creek’s, she said. “And we had corn forever,” she added.
Despite that, Jay admits to being a total novice when it comes to plant care.
“I keep calling my parents and say, ‘Dad, I planted a pumpkin, now what do I do?’”
Jay avoided gardening growing up, she said, except when forced to help out.
“For weeks, every time we sat in front of the TV we had to snap beans,” she noted. Or, “We’d ask, ‘Why do we have to pick this?’” — referring especially to plants like okra, she said, with its prickly bristles.
“We didn’t like it,” she said of the work.
Now, though, Jay has had a change of heart.
“I could get so addicted to this stuff,” she said. “I could turn my whole yard into a garden.”
When asked what brought about the change in her perspective, Jay gave a spiritual reply.
“I read in my cookbook this great quote, ‘If you never have a garden you’ll never know the wonderful things that God will allow to happen.’” The quote isn’t exact, she noted, but the sentiment is.
JAY AND her sons have gone all out in their tiny space, planting cucumbers, pumpkin, green peppers, carrots, yellow squash, watermelon, broccoli, tomatoes and more.
“If just a couple things come up, we’ll be happy,” she said.
The 7 feet by 14 feetspace is bursting with life. Pepper plants, purchased from TLC Greenhouse and Garden Center in LaHarpe, are already setting fruit.
“That one is my pride and joy,” Jay gushes, pointing at a small plant with a 2-inch long dark green fruit.
Kendall smiles, too. He puts in a lot of work on the plot.
“I like it,” he said.
On Monday, he was weeding small maple seedlings and adjusting the soaker hose provided by a neighbor.
“She came over and said ‘I have a hose for you,’” Jay said.
In return, “She’ll get some peppers.”
Besides her parents, Jay checks in with an aunt in Texas.
“She has this tiny garden” — all her yard in Dallas allows, Jay said — “but we call each other every day and send each other pictures of our gardens. She’ll say, ‘I have a tomato, do you?’ And I’ll tell her, ‘No, but I have a pepper.’”
For next year, Jay is already thinking big.
“I can have a ladies’ gardening club,” she said. “I’m so excited.”
Philosophical again, Jay notes the experience will also be good for her sons.
“My parents always said you’ll never be as close to God as when you garden.”
