Introducing: Garden Siren Call

That's me and my husband, Steve, in southern Mississippi last spring. No gardening during lunch!

A young woman and her dad went shopping at a garden center in Ames, Iowa. It was 1981, and they wanted to established a garden by the front stoop of a rented duplex.

The duo returned with gladiolus bulbs and petunias. The landlord, who had critiqued the young woman for forgetting to clean the oven in the duplex, was more enthusiastic about the flower garden she planted with her dad's help.

That young woman was me, of course, and this was the first "grown-up" garden in my life ... although at eight years old I cut out a patch of grass in suburban Minneapolis and planted radish seeds I had purchased myself, with an allowance. The landlord in that duplex was furious and pulled out the garden to re-plant the sod. I cried and cried after he did that.

These days I have about 13 gardens on over an acre of land in rural Scott County, Iowa.

I named this blog "Garden Siren Call," because these gardens, to me, do represent a form of therapy, beauty, exercise and other benefits. (I wanted to be "Garden Ninja" but that name was taken.)

My dad was a rose gardener, like his mother before him. He had a big rose garden at our home in Minnesota. My grandmother raised national championship roses, according to family lore, on the east coast of Virginia.

So gardening is in the genes and this is the first open summer I've had since I was 13 years old. Every summer I've worked to some extent, which impacts time spent outdoors. This year is different for several reasons:

1. Now that I have time to maintain the garden, and I try to see that it is weed-free and as beautiful as possible.

2. I have volunteered to help with the gardens of the three girls in the Baker family. They all live in urban areas so this is a fun task.

3. I maintain a garden of perennials at one edge of our property. There is now a bench in the space for neighbors to sit, and the plants are labeled if they wish to teach their children or grandchildren about the flowers.

4. This year is a particularly bad year for Japanese beetles, with the leaf & flower damage they cause. I've blogged on this topic four times (bakersheartbeat.blogspot.com). But what it really means is that I have gotten up early every day from June 20 to this week, August 14, and headed outdoors to kill the beetles by capturing each one I see, and dunking it in hot, soapy water. I caught 372 on the worst day, in July. But today I found just four beetles total in the morning; the pest is dying out. Finally!

Welcome to Garden Siren Call: I hope readers find value in this new blog.