Gardening Memories: Petunias, Potatoes and Purple-Hull Beans

July 15, 2000. Winnfield, LA.

My daddy was born in 1903 in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. About four years later, his family moved to Louisiana and settled in the Bayou Boeuf area of northeast Louisiana. I say "area" because they moved a lot. My grandfather had early childhood memories of the pain and sadness his family experienced when they lost their home during the Civil War. So he was determined that his family would not get too attached to a home or property, therefore, possibly experiencing the same pain that he had.

Lawn Care

One of Daddy's favorite stories was about Haley's comet and yard work. Apparently in north Louisiana in the early 20th century it was considered "tacky" to have grass in your yard. A nice yard would have small plots for vegetables and flowers, fruit trees and at least one chinaberry tree. (Daddy said anyone who was "anybody" had a chinaberry tree.) Children had the job of hoeing out the grass and literally sweeping the yard around the plots and trees.

When Haley's comet appeared in the winter of 1909-10, there was a rumor that the tail would "sweep" the earth. A neighbor child with yard responsibilities said, "I hope it sweeps our yard so I won't have to."

By my lifetime, grass had become "acceptable" and on mowing day, Mama, Daddy and I would take turns with a push mower. Sometimes the day would turn into an humiliating experience for me. When Mama would be pushing the mower and Daddy would hear a car approaching, he would grab a board or stick and walk behind her holding the object in a position that communicated that he was a "slave-driver." Mama would be oblivious to him walking behind her because of the noise of the mower. The neighbors enjoyed the antics. I would be so embarrassed.

Flowers and Vegetables

In our front yard were a number of perennials that I was told my grandmother had brought from Mississippi and had always dug up and moved with them. There were daylilies around a pin oak tree, white lilies on either side of the yard, spider lilies near the house and snow drops in a corner. The snow drops were the first plants to bloom in late winter, then the white lilies around Easter and the day-lilies for Mother's Day. In September, I was always delighted to get up one morning and find that the spider lilies had popped up over night. I still look forward to their magical appearance each fall.

Near the vegetable garden in the back yard, were flower beds for petunias, four o'clocks and old-maids (zinnas). Most years we had purple, white and pink petunias. Our four o'clocks were pink and Mama would get a "color variety pack" of old maid seeds. There was the annual argument over the color of the old maids. I always asked if we could buy a package of seeds with only one color that would coordinate with the petunias. I was always out voted. Mama liked to see all the different colors and Daddy would side with her.

These annual flower beds were located near the vegetable garden which made maintenance easier. You could hoe the garden and walk just a few feet and do the flower bed on your way to return the hoe to the shed. And you could water both at the same time.

I liked helping with the flower beds, but did not care for most of the vegetable garden chores, especially picking peas and squash! Getting on your knees to pull up grass around flowers seemed like fun. I like the smell of disturbed soil. You get close to the beauty of the blossoms and feel like a part of their little world close to the ground. Its like entering a world of butterflies and lady bugs. On the other hand, pea and squash plants make me itch and its very hard to pick peas and squash without touching the plants. And I have always been more comfortable squatting or kneeling rather than bending over.

One chore that involved bending that I didn't mind was picking the potatoes up early in June. I got to smell freshly disturbed dirt and feel its coolness on my bare feet. Our soil was almost white and sandy and the area would have a "beach-like" quality. In fact, I thought potato digging day was fun! Daddy would pull up the vines and expose the potatoes and my job was to pick them up and put them in buckets. And I'd dig around in the dirt to make sure we had them all. Mama would help whomever seemed like they were having the "slowest" day.

Our family introduced to the neighborhood purple hull "green" beans. These drought resistant long producing beans are now available commercially, but in the sixties they were an oddity. Everyone would want to see our "green" beans with the purple hulls. They'd come to the house to see them on the vines because after they were cooked or canned, they would turn green with no evidence that they had been purple.

Uncle Jack

We had gotten our purple bean seeds from my Uncle Jack and Aunt Pearl Morse who still lived near Hazlehurst, Mississippi. Uncle Jack farmed and was always trying new plants and trying to cross-breed plants himself. He was one of the funniest men I have ever met. Uncle Jack "stories" include:

• Aunt Pearl wouldn't let him bring whiskey into the house, so he would hide it in the fields in holes in trees. That way while plowing, he could just stop by a tree for shade and refreshment. I have heard that one of my brothers used to like to go to Hazlehurst for a few weeks each summer to help Uncle Jack "plow."

• Uncle Jack liked to spend his days sitting on the porch of an old country store telling tales to people that came by. His fields were beautiful and people would ask him, "You are always here. We never see you working in your fields. How do you get everything to grow like that?" He would reply with something like, "I don't do anything, it just grows like that." Then after dark, he'd be in the fields plowing, hoeing or whatever needed to be done. And the next day, he'd be a man of "leisure" at the country store again. 

Conclusion

Gardening is often and should be a family affair. It is wholesome and healthy. Families that grow their own vegetables share with their children lessons about the environment and good cooking and eating. Its great exercise and many gardening activities are easily adapted for a variety of age groups and abilities. Gardening gets everyone away from television, video games and computer screens. And it offers a time for young people to learn how to organize tasks and carry them out with other people.

Gardening builds character!


P.S. When I was growing up we had a chinaberry tree.


Article originally published at Suite101.com, Insightful Writers. Informed Readers.