Gardening With Jake

Jake called us last week to ask for advice and tools to tackle this old lilac which used to bloom profusely, but now was just looking sad.

Jake lives in Wallingford, an urban village north of downtown Seattle, an area filled with family bungalows built early in the last century. He has an apartment in part of an old house that was probably the living quarters of an old store front, perhaps a corner grocery.

I mentioned in the tribute to my mother that she had passed on a love for the land and growing things. We never made our kids participate in our gardening chores when they were growing up, but gradually they have both taken to growing things too.

So this morning we headed in to lend a hand, and a ladder, and loppers and pruning saw. This may not be what Jake had in mind, but the result is a bit of the former lilac, with three new starts staked and now able to get the light, and a pile if debris. Jake will borrow a friend's truck to haul off the pile.

While the guys were doing the pruning, I checked out everything else. His raspberry patch, started from plants from our garden, was looking good.

We recycled old nursery pots for his use as a vegetable garden, this one holding salad mix.

Jake has an elaborate system of capturing rain run off in rain barrels.

Last year he asked for help deciding what plants would grow along the foundation. It's a hot, dry spot, but in the second year at least most of it is still alive. I weeded it for him today.

Strawberry plants, also from our garden, are planted in the parking strip, along with a few pea vines.

It makes me feel good that Jake is getting earth on his hands and enjoying the company of growing things.