GREEN JEANS

I was introduced to this industry by necessity. I was 18, out of the house, and had bills to pay. I found a job cutting lawns, pushing wheelbarrows, edging beds, and blowing leaves, with little understanding of the big picture. My bosses actually had me spreading Preen with my bare hands, and then wondered why so many dead birds found their way into the beds we had treated.

In the spring of 1996, I took a job at a guest ranch in northern Idaho – the only job they had left: Groundskeeper. Orientation with my boss went something like, “Here is a library of books on organic gardening and composting, here are catalogues for organic and biological controls, and that’s where your garden will be. I’m pretty busy teaching centered riding, so the chef will tell you what she wants you to grow. Keep the grass cut and the beds weeded. Any questions?”

“What time is breakfast?”

“Seven. Have a fire going in the lodge by six-thirty.”

At first, my garden was a mess. I didn’t thin my carrots soon enough, my broccoli bolted, and inoculation did nothing for my pole beans. But I had a scarecrow with a unique anatomically correct watering system, and a new nickname: Green-Jeans.
With the occasional help of the guests’ children, I kept my plot weeded, and before long, I had neat rows of healthy veggies. My peppers never did too well that year, but I kept the temperamental chef off my back with an abundant bounty of greens and zucchini. I didn’t realize how emotionally involved I had become until the first frost (in late September) zapped most of my crops. I stood in my garden watching the sun rise, and I wept.

The following spring, I returned to Ohio, where no one knew I cried for my crops, and began what was to be a seven-year, labor-intensive education under the tutelage of Eric and Jeff Griff of Lowe’s Greenhouse.

Early in the winter of 2003, an entrepreneurial bug and a desire to design sustainable landscapes bit me. The result is American Gardens – my small design and installation company.