THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 12, 1995 TAG: 9503110026
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G19 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: WEEDER'S DIGEST
SOURCE: BY ROBERT STIFFLER, GARDENING COLUMNIST
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
IT ALL STARTED with two tomato plants. When the Navy transferred Farrell Braun to Virginia Beach and he bought a house in Windsor Woods, his wife, Theresa, asked, ``Would you spade up a place for me to have two tomato plants?''
Next she asked, ``Would you plant those two tomato plants?'' Then, ``Would you fertilize those tomato plants?''
Braun replied, ``It's my garden.''
Fifteen years later, he retired to the Salem-South Princess Anne Road area of Virginia Beach, where he has converted three acres from ``plain old clay'' to an excellent place to grow plants.
One of the reasons he purchased the property was that a professional tree trimmer had dumped leftover wood chips there for years. Braun plowed them under, but the tree trimmer moved away, cutting off Braun's organic source. So Braun started hauling in well-rotted horse manure from a nearby stable.
His garden soil now is so soft and pliable that visitors sink into it. When friends and neighbors visit, they often remark that they could raise outstanding gardens, too, if they had soil like Braun's.
Braun, who took some gardening classes through Tidewater Community College, insists anyone can do what he did with persistence and hard work. He's an organic gardener and believes good soil is the basis for every good garden.
Braun grows bearded iris, Siberian iris, grape hyacinth, nandina and more. He sells his extra perennials cheaply to people who can come pick them up, starting at 5 cents apiece for grape hyacinth, with nothing over $2.50.
Braun also grows fruit trees and has an excellent strawberry bed. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has just announced three new strawberry varieties that will be available in 1996. They are Mohawk, Northeaster and Delmarvel. All are early-maturing, disease resistant varieties. In June, the plants produce firm, good tasting fruit. Delmarvel is the variety USDA says is best adapted to the Mid-Atlantic States.
Another of Braun's gardening hobbies is raising autumn olive or Elaeagnus umbellata. It is somewhat like Russian olive but smaller and more spreading, with yellow-brown branches and silver leaves. It makes an excellent thick hedge.
The autumn olive flowers in mid-May with small, fragrant, yellow or white flowers. The fruit that follows is scaly and brown but changes to salmon-red when mature in October. Birds love the seeds and scatter them around, so you often have many seedlings.
If you have clay soil, follow Braun's plan, using wood chips and horse manure to convert it to a lively, active soil. If you want a variety of inexpensive shrubs and plants, you can reach Braun at 427-6380. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ROBERT STIFFLER
Farrell Braun grows autumn olive at his home in the Virginia Beach
countryside.
by CNB