Ashley Pfister is a member of the Uplands Garden Club and
took the Master Gardening course at Olbrich Botanical Gardens starting in
2002. She and her husband Alex live on
their farmette in the hills outside of Hollandale and have been growing their
own organic vegetables for 14 years.
For
the first 11 years the beds were constructed out of wood, with no bottoms,
placed on the ground. Eventually weeds,
continually rotting boards and their increasing age, inspired them to think of
a better system. After researching what alternatives were on the market, in the spring of 2016 they replaced all the old wooden beds with eleven galvanized
steel stock tanks. This spring they’ll
be adding 4 more!
At our April meeting, Ashley presented their story,
with before and after pictures as well as pictures of other types of gardening
ideas using stock tanks. They’re not
just for veggies - an inspiration for anyone who’s got an old farm stock tank they’d like to repurpose into something decorative, or anyone looking for an easier way to grow those fantastic tasting vegetables.
Ashley also showed how to easily grow the best onion crop ever
from seed! For all onion lovers
frustrated with using the limited onion variety starts offered in stores, or
onion crops that produce small onions that don’t store well, this easy and fun
method will solve all of that.
