What do you see from your kitchen window?
Raised beds filled with zinnias, cosmos, marigolds, sunflowers. We have six raised beds 12-feet long and six-feet wide, and the ones closest to the house are filled with flowers. The marigolds are five-feet tall, the zinnias are five- or six-feet tall, the sunflowers are about 10-feet tall. It's a wall of bright colors, gorgeous. I planted 20 packets of seed this year, and all of the flowers are in large clumps. One thing I didn't do in time was stake them in the middle of the beds.
What do you do with the flowers?
I love to have cut flowers in the house, but we have so many I didn't know what to do with them all. My husband suggested taking vases of flowers to the nearby retirement home, so that's what we do.
How did you become a gardener?
My father loves gardening, and now that I'm retired, we are in friendly competition to see who can have the earliest tomatoes, the biggest tomatoes and the best. I had the earliest tomatoes this year.
What varieties do you grow?
I love Beefsteak and Early Girl since they do produce earliest in the season. We also have onions, cucumber, peppers, green beans, cherries, apples, peaches.
How much time do you spend in the garden?
A few hours each day. It's wonderful.
Is it hard to maintain a half-acre garden?
We have hose bibs at all of the beds and soaker hoses. But for new plants, I hand water them until they are growing well, then the soaker hoses take over.
– Pat Rubin
