This month we bring you Jennifer Layton and her lovely garden in Mesa. Jennifer gardens on a 0.43 acre irrigated lot. She has seven raised beds and many trees to provide food and shade. She is certified as a Wildlife Habitat and Monarch Waystation. Jennifer has been gardening with her parents since elementary school, and as an adult, she always planted herbs or flowers wherever she lived. She did container gardening when she lived in apartments and started raised bed gardens when she and her husband purchased their home twelve years ago. In 2016 they purchased a Haas avocado tree online, but they did not know how to take care of it and started looking online. They found the answers with the huge online community of gardeners in Arizona that were also trying all sorts of new trees. Jennifer and her husband call their Haas avocado “Our Gateway Tree” because when they purchased it, they only had six trees in their yard, but this started them on a journey to many more exotic tree purchases. They decided they no longer wanted to be the family with only a few trees. However, it did not stop there! Jennifer decided she was also interested in taking care of the trees growing in your yard!
Through this discovery and evolution of their yard and their growing knowledge, they quickly discovered that they could help others with their own journey. They realized that there is a need within the community of specialized rare fruit growers for a knowledgeable caregiver or caretaker when going on a vacation. They started Yellow Boots Yard Care. They offer vacation yard care for your fruiting trees or your vegetable gardens or a little muscle to get over your next hurdle in your own yard design. She is certified as a Wildlife Habitat and Monarch Waystation.
What is gardening to you?
We’ve all heard the saying that “Food is life”, to me “Gardening is Life!” I am so happy to be able to grow my own fruit and vegetables in Arizona. I have made it my goal in life to not only have the ability to sustain my own family with fruit and vegetables but to also share with my large local extended family and friends. Someday I hope to get to the point where I am also able to share with my community. This goal is not just about sustaining those around me, it’s also about the health that comes with gardening itself. The results are in! Being outdoors, physically exerting ourselves along with having our hands in the soil creates an environment for a longer healthier life. I want to live a long healthy life and so I garden.
How did your garden adventure begin?
My earliest gardening memory is planting strawberries in our family’s backyard for my birthday, with my mom, grandma, and my friends. I had a Strawberry Shortcake themed birthday party and our fun activity was planting strawberry plants. I loved visiting my grandparents in Oregon during the summer. Eating wild blackberries and raspberries along with the fresh vegetables from my grandpa’s garden.
I still grow strawberries and zucchini each summer. When my grandpa, my little brother and I harvested the strawberries we would bring them inside and my great grandma and grandma and I would make freezer jam. I still use her same recipe.
What changes have you made that have been really impactful?
I live in a flood irrigated neighborhood, so my soil was never bad. Yet there were parts where the grass wasn’t growing, and it was pretty hard. We decided to add mulch and wood chips and worms to the area and now that location has the best soil a gardener and tropical tree enthusiast could ask for. Patience is key and I can’t necessarily say I had too much of that in the beginning.
We have raised beds for the vegetables and grow what I feel that Arizonans consider rare trees. We do not till our raised beds for several reasons, one is because it disturbs the beneficial microorganisms. However, we add organic matter to the top of the soil each year when we change the crop. The organic matter consists of leaves that fall from our pecan, apple and stone fruit trees, and some wood chips from our annual pruning. I have a worm bin that I use to compost kitchen scraps. Each season I separate the worms from the bin and harvest the castings to use in the raised beds. To the top of each bed I add some Fox Farm Ocean Forest potting soil which contains fish emulsion, crab meal, shrimp meal, earthworm castings, bat guano, kelp meal and oyster shells. This fall we also used a product we purchased from Tony Sarah with Earth’s Original Organics, he calls it “Tony’s Magic Mix.” I have noticed a difference with regards to the size and health of the crop from our previous fall crops where we did not use his product.
Our watering is via flood irrigation and some supplemental hand watering. The flood irrigation comes twice a week during the summer, our raised beds are right in the middle of the irrigated part of the yard and so the water wicks from the ground. Some supplemental watering is done to the beds and the trees that require more moist soil. We have several sections of the yard that are primarily trees. The large areas are covered in a foot of wood chips which in the fall and winter months receive six inches of leaves and more wood chips. We get our chips from neighbors who prune their ficus trees and pine trees each year. We add worm castings to the tree well and fish emulsion too. We did a lot of foliar feeding when the trees were newly planted however as they have become taller and more established along with having more trees we have not kept up with that practice as often as we should. When we add in new trees we use mycorrhizae at the bottom of the hole and water in with a five-gallon bucket of fish emulsion. Because the areas that we plant trees have been covered with mulch and wood chips each year nothing else needs to be added into the surrounding area.
What do you enjoy growing?
Green is my favorite color…. Well really it’s purple but you wouldn’t guess that because I have so many varieties of plants growing in my home and outdoors. Mostly I enjoy growing tropical trees and growing unusual vegetables. I’ve had a great time since deciding that I wanted to give this niche hobby a try. It’s interesting how the hobby has taken over and become a part of who I am, who I associate with and how I spend my time. We primarily have fruiting trees with multiple varieties of citrus, stone fruit, figs, mangos, bananas, cherries, and avocados. Along with single trees of mulberry, longan, lychee, pomegranate and flowering trees such as Rainbow Cassia, Hong Kong Orchid, Magnolia and a Royal Empress tree. I love growing various herbs, onions, spinach, roselle, artichokes, peppers, tomatoes, loofa, sweet potato & birdhouse gourds. We simply eat the fresh fruit and vegetables that come from our garden fresh and share it with our family.
What do you want other gardeners to know about your garden?
Gardening is a work in progress. As the seasons change so does my garden. There are always new things to see no matter when others come. A new crop, a new tree, a new stage in the growth of current trees. This is what is exciting and the fun about opening my homestead garden for friends, family, Facebook community seed swaps, and the occasional Rare Fruit Growers events.
What are your biggest gardening challenges?
Space! Eventually, I will come upon a crossroad where I will need to choose between vegetable gardening and the height of my trees. Because we have so many trees I have I will eventually need to move or eliminate my raised beds as everything in my yard will be shaded. I’m not looking forward to this decision.
What are your biggest successes?
I can grow mangos in the Arizona desert. Now to the niche tropical enthusiast gardener we know this isn’t too difficult. To me, it’s best to say to someone that isn’t a part of the gardening community that it can be done. That it is something that you can buy or start a seed and grow in your own yard. I love bringing others into the community and finding friends who love to do the same things as I do.
Any gardening tips to share with others?
Patience and trial and error go a long way towards success. If you don’t first succeed try, try, try again. Join a community of gardeners, talk with others and you will learn from others’ experiences so you too can be successful. Remember that your yard is different from any other you have your own unique microclimates and learning what works in your own space is key.
What would grow in your dream garden if the climate was not an obstacle?
I’d love to grow mangos, artichokes, papayas, cherries, gourds, cucumbers, mulberries, coconuts, eggplants, beans…. My point with this list is that I feel like I can grow anything I want to. I will give it a try. I put it in the ground and give it the best possible chance for survival. If it isn’t successful, I give it another try in a different spot in my yard. Anything is possible.
Follow Jennifer:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yellowbootsyardcare
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yellowbootsyardcare
Website: www.yellowbootsyardcare.com
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