DATE: Sunday, March 9, 1997                 TAG: 9703080079

SECTION: HOME                    PAGE: G8   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARY REID BARROW, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   45 lines

COUPLE ENJOY GARDENING AT RETIREMENT CENTER

``THERAPY'' is what Jim McEwen calls the vegetable garden that he and his wife, Rachel, tend on the grounds at Westminster-Canterbury, a retirement center in Virginia Beach.

``It does me good to get out and putter,'' said Jim McEwen, 82.

``He does the hard work, and I do the gathering,'' added Rachel McEwen, 77.

Whether it's called therapy, puttering or just plain gardening, the McEwens are able to coax a lot of vegetables from the small raised beds that Westminster-Canterbury has constructed for its residents.

Right now, the McEwens are tending to a 20-by-4-foot plot, a bigger space than is usually allotted to inhabitants, because the couple is also raising vegetables for a friend who is incapacitated. The raised beds are 2 feet high and, because they are only 4 feet wide, they are easy to weed and plant.

The McEwens work their garden just about all year round, beginning with a small plot of potatoes as well as onions, radishes, spinach and lettuce in the spring. Jim McEwen plants a row of onions 6 or 7 inches apart and in between, he plants a row of lettuce, radishes or spinach.

In summer, the couple has plenty of tomatoes and peppers to give away too. To save space, they grow cucumbers on a trellis. The only vegetables they don't raise because of the limited area are corn and squash.

In fall, it's kale and spinach. The kale keeps coming all winter long.

Because the beds are small and the vegetables are grown close together, McEwen uses a lot of 10-10-10 fertilizer. ``That's the secret of our garden,'' he said.

When it comes to insect pests, they don't think it is necessary to use chemicals. ``The garden is so small, we just pick them off,'' Rachel McEwen said.

The couple had a big garden in Lakes Shores in Virginia Beach where they lived before moving to Westminster-Canterbury. They are happy to be able to continue their lifetime hobby.

``We get the pleasure of watching it grow, and we get the exercise of making it grow,'' Jim McEwen said. ILLUSTRATION: ROBERT STIFFLER

Photo

Rachel and Jim McEwen in their garden at Westminster-Canterbury. KEYWORDS: WEEDER'S DIGEST

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