If everything goes as planned, Chih and I will be moving into our new home in Newnan during the month of February. More importantly, I'll have my own garden for the first time in my 41 years. Even though my mom has pretty much given me free rein to plant whatever I want, it still feels nice to finally have a place of my own- a place where I can make radical decisions... and mistakes.
Yet it is also weird for me because, for the first time, I feel some sense of stability, a place to plant some roots. Even though part of me is always suspicious of feeling "comfortable" or "stable". Because I know firsthand how permanence is just an illusion. It's dangerous to cling too hard to anything.
But back to the topic at hand! The house we are buying is in an older neighborhood on the east side of Newnan. It is ~ 5 min. from the church where I work. And since driving isn't my favorite activity, I'm looking forward to not having to do so much of it. It gets old. Maybe when self-driving cars are a thing, I won't loathe it as much.
The house is around 50 years old, and other than a few somewhat expensive fixes, it seems in relatively good condition. More importantly, the yard is blessed with rich soil. Or... at least I predict it is rich. I say this because it seems like this property hasn't been disturbed for a long time, and, as a general rule of thumb, the longer a property has been undisturbed by heavy machinery or development, the more likely the soil profile has "matured" so to speak. Dark loamy soils make a huge difference and are more than half the battle in developing a new vegetable or perennial garden. To me, soils like this are more valuable than any household frills or accessories. There is also a dog fence... fingers crossed this excludes the deer!
Chih is planning a vegetable garden comprised of many hard-to-find Asian vegetables like Luffa squash and Taiwanese greens. He is also interested in growing as many fruit-bearing plants as possible. We plan on numerous types of blueberries and some harder-to-find fruits like persimmon and paw paw. As I'm not that experienced with edibles, I'm leaving most of that to him. I'll happily eat whatever we grow.
It's rare, at least here in the southeast, to find a property that was gardened during its recent past. Throughout the landscape are vestiges of the prior owner's love of gardening... there are hooks for flower baskets, trellises for vines, and perennials clinging to life along a fence border. I've found perennial Phlox, bee balm (Monarda), and multiple clumps of Hibiscus mutabalis, or Confederate Rose. He not only grew things, he also had reasonably good taste.
There are also traces of a vegetable garden toward the very back of the property. Our realtor even sent me an old article featuring his "giant okra". We certainly plan on growing okra, because.... what is life without okra? I particularly love it roasted until it is brown and caramelized. If you don't like it, you should try cooking it this way. Okra is one of the important vegetables that keeps me regular.
All in all, I'm very happy about the yard, although there are a few trees I'd like to get rid of... some giant Bradford pears (which smell bad and are too common). And I'd also like to either pull up or cut and herbicide a few Knockout roses. I'm a total snob when it comes to plants, so I'm sure I'll get rid of a lot of others. But the great thing is that most of the property is a "blank slate" with good sun.
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