had grown into a scruffy tree much too tall for its small bed . I thought my husband would dig it out with a shovel but I was way off . When I got home that evening he was excitedly pulling the shrub out with a chain and his vintage Jeep . I was horrified , but , alas , the deed was done . Onward garden grower — onward !
Rockville , it seems , has earned its name well — while preparing the ground for a small collection of plants where the shrub had been , I pulled a gorgeous 50-lb . marble slab out of my yard with the help of two neighbor kids and a shovelcum-fulcrum . And after wasting hours pulling large and small rocks and huge clay balls from my small plot , I hit another wall — was this my second failure at gardening ? Could anyone actually GROW something in “ Rock ” ville ? Demoralized , I nearly gave up a second time .
A Youtube search uncovered “ The Ruth Stout ” method , developed by a woman who didn ’ t start gardening until she was 45 , and wanted to save herself from the back-breaking work that breaking ground on a new garden can be . She worked above the grass by placing hay over it in the fall , and by the next spring , the grass had turned into vital nutrients for her garden . She parted the hay and now-supple dirt to plant her seeds . The hay served as a protective layer to keep weeds down and water from evaporating as quickly .
Since I was starting my garden in the late spring instead of fall like Ms . Stout , and contending with major rocks below the surface of the ground , I had to modify her planting method . For lack of a better name , we ’ ll call it the “ Sherri LaRowe method .” These days , I ’ m
PHOToS : Sherri LaRowe
Flowers and vegetables grow in abundance in Sherri ’ s trial-by-error gardening methods . not wasting money on a struggling garden plot , but using the resources I already have , or can score for free and on the cheap , and reaping a plentiful harvest .
Here ’ s how it works : I first lay down cardboard ( free at Costco ) or folded up layers of newspapers ( free from neighbors ) on the grass . Above that I put a layer of compost ( which I had been hot composting that winter instead of buying at a garden supply store ). On top of that I added decent soil ( which I reused from my first failed garden in the shady backyard ) and hay ( which I scavenged from willing neighbors on Craigslist and the Next Door app ). Then , with neighbor-provided freebie sprouted potatoes which would have gone in the trash , I started my garden plot . And I placed it right in the land between the sidewalk and the curb . If the county requires maintenance there , and I wanted to plant veggies in a sunny spot , that ’ s a win-win !
The first year of my Covid garden , I got 80 lbs . of new potatoes in an area smaller than an economy-sized car . I doubled the size of the plot in the next year , because now it ’ s hosting a cornucopia of veggies — corn , several different varieties of beans , sweet peas , tomatoes , turnips , carrots , swiss chard , radishes and more . Add to the pleasure of this method , virtually no weeding !
I gave homage to my mother ’ s roots by even trying my hand at cotton last summer , which is allowed in home plots only in states from Maryland and north where it is not a regular farm cash crop . Cotton is not allowed in homegrown gardens in Virginia and
plenty I spring sowing 2024 35