Yesterday I went to visit my wonderful mother-in-law. She is an herbalist, and literally every space of her land that can be a garden is a garden. Her name is DeAne Wilson, and she has taught me many of the things that I now know about plants.
Several years ago she planted a veggie garden, and for the first two years it was a massive producer. While in recent years she has put more of her energy towards growing herbs, there are still some greens to be found on the hill. I found chard, mustard greens, stinging nettles, and oregano all mixed in with miners lettuce, overgrown grass, and wild flowers.
Her patch of nettles is planted against an old concrete wall. Her garden lies in the footprint of a barn that burned to the ground in 1999. The old remnants of its foundation give it awesome urban style.
These chard plants are vibrant and yummy. They have sown their own seed and continue to flourish. The yellow flowers in the background are the mustard greens that are flowering out too.
Her deer fence is simple. Short fence, tall sticks.
These artichokes are edible. You can even eat the leaves.
These artichokes are not edible. Just for decoration.
Every garden needs art, right? She left the burnt posts from the fire because they are a beautiful reminder that everything can rise again, even from ashes. The arrow is from her old weathervane.
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