My Mom always had a big garden when we lived at Swanson Farms. She probably had one at Tipton’s too, but I was too young to remember much about it.
The garden at Swanson farms ran north to south along the strip of grass between the house and the driveway. In the grass was the clothesline filled during the week with breezy dried sheets and the family’s laundry. Mom had a clothespin bag that would slide along the line as she speedily hung up the clothes; doubling up at the end of one item pinned to the next one to save on space and pins. These were the snap clothes pins not the slip on pins.
The slip on pins looked like a head with legs so we used them for craft projects to make little Christmas ornaments. We drilled a hole in the sholders to slip in a pipe cleaner for arms and cut out little felt pieces or calico fabric for coats and dresses. We would paint on little faces and color part of the head blond, black or brown for hair. For the girl dolls we tied a very small bow and glued it on the back of the head. Some of the slip on clothespins had more shape at the top so the dolls looked like they had a bouffant hair style. Boy I haven’t used the word bouffant in a sentence since the 50’s or 60’s. Get out the hair spray everyone.
Back to the garden next to the clothesline. I figure that Mom had a little help from Dad in preparing the soil as I really don’t remember her turning the soil. I like that Dad or Alan probably ran some type of farm equipment through the dirt to loosen it up, dumped on some manure or other chemicals to perk it up and then Mom took over. I just don’t have that tractor handy when I prepare to plant something in my yard in the spring. So I use a shovel and fork to turn over the hardpacked clay soil to mix in some compose.
I remember a few tomatoes growing in Mom’s garden. She really didn’t like to eat them as she got older, but told of how good they were from her mother, Lydia’s garden. They ate them just like an apple off the tomato bush.
We had a porch on the Swanson Farm. Mom would park the almost ready tomotoes in on the window ledge to rippen. I would take one and eat it like an apple. It was delicious.
Mom had a lot of really good neighbor friends that she communicated with during the week. Sim Kagahara was one of her neighbor friends that lived about a mile or so away. Sim would grow peach trees from seeds. Mom had one in her garden for a few years until it died away during the cold winters.
I moved into a house in Lakewood with a big yard and several fruit trees; plum, cherry and peaches. At one time I had 30 different trees crowded into the yard. After 35 years most have died off except a beautiful apricot that we sit under on sultry summer evenings. It never has had apricots as the blossoms freeze off in the early spring, but it sure has nice shady leaves.
I toss peach pits into our compost pile. When I use the compost those seed invariablly make a peach tree. Some are free stone and some are stick to the pit. The years there are peaches (about every 3-5 years) the fruit if extra delicious and juicy so that it drips down your arm as you eat one right off the tree. I make usually make some peach jam to give away at Christmas or other occasions. It is great on pancakes. Making it is the most fun.