Before I owned a house, I dabbled in gardening any way possible.
COLLEGE YEARS
In my college dorm, I painted and decorated my room, a hit with everyone.
An ivy from my mom sat upon my desk top, vibrantly green and growing, until one day I received periwinkles in a straw hat at the elementary school where I interned.
VISTA DEL REY I
Shortly after moving into an apartment at Vista del Rey, after college graduation, I endured major head surgery.
All my friends perked me up with flowers and house plants, which I arranged on top of the fencing on my second floor back patio when I returned home.
The plants happily blended in with the gorgeous surroundings.
PIPERS CREEK
In my next apartment, Pipers Creek, we decorated the porch with container gardens.
Upon arrival home one day, we found a gift bag with helium balloons secured to the doorknob, thank you gift from management.
Although they weren’t running any gardening contests, they loved our look which perked up their property, so decided to surprise us with treats.
VISTA DEL REY II
Happily returning to my beloved Vista del Rey apartment complex, my new unit cute at ground level at the corner of the building afforded more windows than ever, with cute stair steps up to the front door.
On my first tour, the grounds, the numerous window views from front and back of the apartment, allowing light and cross breezes sold me.
The tropical view of the pool from the window of the unit we were offered, made me feel like I was in a resort. We signed the lease.
Meanwhile a sidewalk that led to the back patio and beyond to the community hot tub and swimming pool under crepe myrtles, banana trees, and cannas…such a tropical feel.
During the summer I loved to come here in the afternoon to read a book under the trees, dip into the pool when I overheated, dip into the hot tub to massage my sore muscles and warm up, redipt into the pool to cool off again, then back to the chaise lounge to read my book.
Nearby a gazebo with tables afforded a lovely spot for journaling.
Again, we decorated our back patio…
…and this time our new to us front patio.
CHILDRESS DUPLEX AT SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE
Deeply missing our gorgeous upscale apartment in San Antonio, I did not relish moving to tornado haven Wichita Falls, or living on base in weary housing…literally named Wheery Housing.
However I decided to make the most of it…and somehow to French Country-fy it.
Moving onto base housing shortly before my daughter’s birth, I made use of every nook and cranny in the yard, especially with free timbers obtained from the garden center.
While creating flower gardens across the shady front of our house, my mom brought tons of bulbs for me to plant, which I supplanted with a few annuals at the nursery.
And then we created a focal point planter from which a hanging flowers suspended.
To my surprise I found a Yard of the Month sign in my yard one day, in the base housing’s annual reward contest for gardens in base housing.
From the front yard, our mowing space was determined by an invisible line (marked on paper) of our triangular property, leading to the back yard at an odd angle.
Behind the brick wall trash can storage, we dug a plot for growing a few fresh vegetables for dinner: yellow squash, tomatoes, and peppers.
BEAUMONT HOUSE AT SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE
With the arrival of my preemie son, we qualified for a larger house, which meant our own yard, quite large and rectangular with space to play and roam for my kids.
Since my sweet daughter suffered from developmental delays and my preemie son endured lots of exams for physical growth delays, they were diagnosed with Sensoring Integration/Processing Disorder.
So we prioritized play scapes of swing set and climbing gym, with sand box, and wading pool with whale water fountain.
Summer evenings were lovely back here.
In the mornings I gardened in my raised vegetable garden 4’x4′ beds out back and puttered in my flower garden out front, seen behind my daughter playing in the sandbox.
After earning Yard of the Quarter, we were given a $100 gift certificate to the BX, where I chose a wooden bench glider that we placed on our porch to overlook the garden.
HATCHER HOUSE AT SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE
Warned that our time at Beaumont House would be short due to the base’s construction of new roofs and interior upgrades in each of the units, our moving papers arrived a year and a half later.
The base gave us a list of available remodeled homes for us to choose where to move to.
Our favorite, located behind and to the catty corner of our Beaumont House (and using the same community carport) had a cute front property with an established quaint garden area, huge tree with lovely violets underneath, and a fenced in triangular backyard with a huge crepe myrtle.
The following photo of the kids helping me water the violets was taken days after moving in.
Moving into that in July, where the temperatures average 110 degrees daily, we moved our household goods and our vegetable garden.
Yes, you read that right.
We transplanted every vegetable from my four feet by four feet raised beds we had built at the Beaumont house, to a newly established sixteen feet by four feet raised bed garden at Hatcher.
Would all the tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini squash, and peppers survive the move when they were bearing fruit in the July heat, 110 degrees?
Yes, with tender loving care, they survived and provided loads of veggies to eat and even for me to can salsa and freeze squashes and peppers.
At the point of the triangle we used garden timbers to create a triangular raised bed herb garden.
Under the kitchen window a simple garden was found in the front yard, where we created a landing zone for me to easily access the water faucet with garden timbers.
Enlarging the garden, I planted perennials this time, at greater cost up front, but since they faithfully regrow and bloom each year, a huge savings in time and money.
Collecting inexpensive garden decor at base housing yard sales allowed me to further cute-ify the perennial garden.
After we built a playscape for my kids in the backyard, I planted flowers underneath for them to enjoy and collect seeds from.
With a huge reputation for keeping service NCOs at Sheppard AFB for 7-10 years, we figured we were here a while, despite rumors we’d be reassigned to Biloxi, Mississippi.
One day a neighbor across the street walked over while I was gardening.
She wanted to gift me the pentas from her garden to add to my perennial garden, because her husband was retiring.
She hated to see them simply die. What are the odds the next tenant will care for the plants?
While gardening at Hatcher, I again won Yard of the Month and Yard of the Quarter.
One of the items first moved here was our reward from a previous win, the garden glider.
Funny that one year we heard weird pulsing sounds as the ground gently shook.
We learned a construction crew had been contracted by the base to upgrade piping throughout the neighborhood.
These guys moaned when their route took them right to our property, that had a Yard of the Quarter sign.
However my young son had a blast watching all the equipment and piles of dirt.
It was quite educational, watching the pneumatic process of replaced piping in the hole they dug.
When they left at night, they stabilized their mini-dozer for my son to freely climb.
