I am warmly greeted at the door by Melinda and a barking dog I am soon to learn is named Sandy. He trots ahead, much friendlier now that we’re acquainted, and leads the way as we head to Melinda’s shade-patched backyard. I was stunned when I first saw her four square foot garden, not just by the amount of plants overflowing from the small plot but, to find tomato plants that were surely on their way to surpassing me in height. Melinda proudly points out her tomatoes and bean plants to me and gestures to her extended garden of potted herbs and flowers that lay closer to the house. As we head back indoors I couldn’t help but congratulate her on how healthy and teeming the garden looked. Back inside the house and air conditioning we chat about her history with gardening…

Grace: Tell me a little about yourself?

Melinda: Well, I’m from Oklahoma and I’ve lived here about twenty-one years. My mother gardened a lot but I probably didn’t get into it too much until I moved here. Personally, I planted flowers but I haven’t done a lot of vegetables because my yard is so shady. I’ve done a little in the past, you know, some herbs but this is really the first time I’ve had success with vegetables- tomatoes, kale and things like that.

Grace: When did your garden get installed?

Melinda: I believe it was October 2014.

Grace: Wow, that recent? I’m surprised because it’s grown so much since then.

Melinda: Yea, the winter stuff I pulled up some of it. One of the kale plants, in march is gone and I grew the tomato plant from seed and the green bean and carrots plant from seed in late March.

Grace: Well it’s looking very grown and very healthy for being so young.

Melinda: Thank you, yea I’d never done green beans before and it’s just been fun and very easy but I do think they don’t like the intense heat of New Orleans so I think I’m going to plant more in the fall and see how that goes.

Grace: Yea it’s really hard to get plants to survive August here.

Melinda: Oh, I know I’m half expecting  things to start to fall off and die. 

Grace: What motivated you to sign up for Green Light and how did you find out about us?

Melinda: I think I found out about it when you guys were just installing light bulbs, not this fixture (motions above her to the light hanging above the kitchen table) but you guys came and put in light bulbs for me and I think I heard about the gardening program too.  I try to eat pretty well and owning a garden definitely helps with that.

Grace: I work in Green Lights community garden now and it’s definitely exciting to go pick up spinach and make something with it. You definitely want to eat it if it something you took the time to grown it.

Melinda: Oh yea the first time I got green beans I was like MM I grew this.

Grace: I know what you mean its very satisfying.

Melinda: It is, very and the tomatoes do taste a lot better

Grace: Ok so you’ve grown tomatoes since your garden’s been installed?

Melinda: So the initial garden you guys gave me had kale, arugula, still don’t know if I’m saying that right…

Grace: We all guess.

Melinda: Well I told my kids about it and they were just adamant that it was not the way to say it. Anyways, there was swiss chard and, let me see, beets also but I don’t think they came up I don’t know if I watered them enough or they needed more sun, but it just didn’t work out. And since them I’ve grown tomatoes, carrots and green beans and the tomatoes are just about to ripen and I’ve already gotten a lot of green beans but I haven’t pulled up any carrots yet and I’m excited to see how they’re doing.

Grace: Did you use any produce that you grew in a meal or recipe that you’d like to pass along to other Green Light gardeners?

Melinda: Yea I made kale chips several times which were really good someone told me how to do it and it’s really simple. I just tore the kale into pieces and brushed a little olive oil on them and sprinkled a little salt and paprika. and it was really good. It almost tastes like bacon, a smokey flavor. They don’t need to even cook very long so its very thin.

Grace: Yea I’ve found kale is one of those vegetables that’s hard to eat on its own its just kinda bitter.

Melinda:Yea but when you do even a little something to it gets a ton of flavor. I gave it to my son and his girlfriend and they did something really creative with it, a chicken curry kale dish.

Grace: I always take that lazy route and throw it in a salad, which is probably why I don’t get to enthusiastic about eating kale.

Melinda: I do that too it helps to throw it in with a bunch of other stuff and then you barely notice it’s there.

Grace: Do you have any gardening tips that you would like to pass on to other Green Light gardeners?

Melinda: Well like my friend was telling me, if you grow tomatoes, you should pinch of those suckers between the main branch and other stems it’s the another growth of the plant in-between those, really leafy, and you’re supposed to pinch those off because it takes away the energy of the plant from making tomatoes and you don’t really need the plant to be bushy, you just want it to focus on growing the fruit.

That’s one thing and you’ve definitely got to go out at night and look for caterpillars. There are these really bright green ones that just love the tomato plant and will devour it if you don’t pull them off. It’s kind of a little morning ritual if you grow tomatoes. I don’t like to use a lot if insecticide so if I can I’ll just go out and pull them out by hand.

And the dead yellow leaves at the bottom of your plant you just want to pull off. Also, watering is important if the leaves are turning yellow, you’re over watering. But it’s so hot now I think you’ve got to do it every day

Grace: I’ve found over watering so easy to do here, since our soil is so clay like.

Melinda: I may have over watered some things in the past and killed stuff.

Grace: Just too much love.

Melinda:Yea, right (heavy sarcasm).

Grace: What is the most important thing you have learned from gardening?

Melinda: That you can do it yourself. You don’t have to buy everything at the grocery store, it’s doable you don’t need a lot of space. I have  a pretty big yard but someone with a small yard could have the same garden as me.

Grace: If you could summarize your experience gardening in one word what would it be

Melinda: Oh one word, hmm, fulfilling.