Carolyn Peters stands next to her beautiful and bountiful vegetable and flower gardens where she lives on 15th Street – HeartlandBeat photos
What do you do with an empty lot next door that’s just a lot of grass to mow? Carolyn Peters has turned it into a garden oasis worth a drive-by on 15th Street in Henderson.
Like many gardens, Carolyn’s has developed over the past 20 years plus, during which she began creating not only a vegetable garden but also a large area for a variety of flowers. Her green thumb is evident not only on their extra lot but all around she and her husband Burdon’s home.
“I like to be outside when it’s nice, and I consider tending to all of this as my therapy,” said Carolyn. The results of her “therapy” are stunning!
Carolyn uses a variety of unique garden art pieces to highlight her many flowers.
She’s always trying new varieties of plants in the garden, and this was the first year for planting sweet corn since they’d lived on the farm. She and Burdon just finished harvesting it, and it did pretty well.
Besides a good sweet corn harvest, the potatoes are about ready to be dug up.
Planting times vary from year to year for Carolyn, and she judges when to plant based on the weather. This year she was late planting cabbage and couldn’t find any plants anywhere in late May, but her husband finally located some purple and green cabbage plants.
She’s been busy shredding the cabbage for fresh coleslaw, freezing it to make soup, and runzas later. Her Anaheim, Bell, and Jalapeño peppers were also doing well.
“I used to do cauliflower, but I just don’t have good luck. The worms get into them, but the broccoli did really well this season,” said Carolyn. She’s already cut six heads of broccoli and frozen quite a bit, but it keeps growing.
Like many gardeners, she battles the bugs and bunnies and had to replant her green beans three times because of the bunnies. Her perseverance finally paid off, and she has finished canning her beans.
Her tomatoes are doing well, and she likes to plant the Roma variety for making and canning salsa. She has a larger Heirloom variety that makes good tomato juice, which she also cans.
Carolyn says she keeps a map of the garden because she can’t always remember what she planted. Other vegetables flourishing include cucumbers, eggplant, Brussels sprouts, okra, potatoes, and kohlrabi.
The bees are loving her flower beds and were busy pollinating on our visit. Carolyn has an eye for landscaping with color around her house, with something blooming all summer long. Her front porch, back patio, and side yards are filled with a variety of flowering pots, trellises, and interesting arrangements.
Carolyn’s yard is a labor of love for sure and a welcome sight on 15th Street!
