Gardening around

What do you picture in your head when you think of a garden? A cute little elderly woman leaning over it with her rump in the air? Gardening isn’t just something that old people do, and tulips and daffodils aren’t the only thing people garden. English teacher, Chrystal Wallace, enjoys gardening in her free time, and she set some things straight.

Wallace began gardening at a very young age, as many garden lovers do. Although she finds joy in her current gardening habits, that was not always the case.

Wanting to instill a good work ethic in their daughter, Wallace’s parents basically forced her to start her own garden when she was seven years old.

“I hated it,” Wallace groaned. “Every year they would ask me what I wanted to put in my garden that summer, and I would always say rocks.”

Little baby Wallace resented working in the garden from the beginning due to her intense desire for the finer things in life. After doing it for years, she came to understand why her parents wanted her to do it and eventually fell in love with it. She now finds herself in her garden almost every single day. Well that is whenever she’s not too busy cleaning up all of the (often literal) messes that her students  make on a daily basis.

“This year I’ve got peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, and we even had pumpkins. I’m also growing muscadines, which are basically white grapes, but better. I typically prefer planting vegetables over fruits though.”

Although many people use gardening as a stress reliever, Wallace finds it useful for other things. She considers it a form of exercise for herself and her family as well.

“I’m definitely going to make my son garden when he’s older. It shows him that if he puts time and effort into something, he will always get something out of it. It will also teach him about sustainability, just like when I was a little girl.”

Wallace loves gardening, but she still believes that it could be better if the circumstances were different in the gardening world. With all of her precious heart, she wishes that she could plant hotdogs in her garden.

Mrs. Wallace is not the only person in LCHS that has a passion for gardening. Kiyah Moore (11th)  adores her garden, taking care of it as if it were her own child.

“I’ve been gardening since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, for a coon’s age,” explained Moore.

The Moore family shares a large family garden where they all plant things they enjoy.

“I would have to say my favorite thing to garden is peaches ‘n cream corn. They’re thicker and tastier than regular corn.”

Moore also enjoys growing a wide variety of herbs in her garden as well. She grows them to use in food, as well as to make medicines out of them. She currently plans on growing lavender, so that she can sew them into patches of clothing as a healer.

When asked if she would grow hot dogs in her garden, Kiyah had a more negative answer.

“I would not grow hot dogs in my garden, because I honestly think they’re gross.”

We all have our hobbies, whether it be painting, playing music, or even attempting to grow hot dogs from the ground. Multiple people here in our school know their way around a garden, and aren’t ashamed of that. What’s so interesting is how different things can really be for people. While gardening is a peaceful sanctuary for some people, it is a form of exercise for others.

We’ve also learned from the lovely Chrystal Wallace that it can be a great way to teach young children some work ethic. This summer I challenge all of you to do something: go to our local Home Depot, purchase some gardening supplies, and start creating your own little garden. What have you got to lose, honestly?