By Mary Cristy
A View from the Hills
In l992 I took my first color shots of “The Garden” on Dori Lane, and a young grower named Craig Murray, who allowed me to prowl amidst lanes of vegetables and flowers, and breathe the scent of fresh basil. The garden flourished. Friends and neighbors gathered to exchange pleasantries, select nutritious vegetables and hand pick bouquets for their tables.
Many things have changed in my life since then. But not the garden. As I did yesterday, and the day before, and will do tomorrow, and tomorrow , until the growing season ends, and Murray plants his cover crops to richen the soil through the long, winter, I will return to Dori Lane. For Murray still provides us with the freshest vegetables in town, and continues to grow flowers that bloom with such intensity that, viewing them, one recalls impressionist paintings.
The Zinnias are the stars,” Murray said.
They bloom abundantly in colors that cause motorists to slow, stop and marvel, as Sheila and Dave Rawcliffe, of San Jose did after touring Giverny, France where they visited Monet’s garden. Entranced, Sheila said,
“We saw Monet’s garden and it was beautiful , but what you have here is far more beautiful!”
Zinnias are one of sixty varieties of flowers whose blooms sing a hymn to the skies Then, what makes them “the stars?” Perhaps, because they are annuals, and their time to glow is short, they pour forth their color with passion as the thorn bird does its song that becomes sweetest just before it dies. Before they go Zinnias, properly cut, will bloom again. Visitors to the garden must know precisely where to snip to insure that second time around .
With “floricultural methods of flower growers,” Murray’s zinnias grow six feet tall, as opposed the their average three.
Huge sunflowers contribute to a bit of garden comedy. A trio of squirrels cavorts like trapeze artists striving to remain aloft as they scurry up stalks that are unable to accomodate their combined weight. So the squirrels flip-flop and fall over backwards in their aborted attempts to feast on sunflower seeds.
With the variety of flowers , and large numbers of veggies (30 varieties of tomatoes, 25 different peppers), zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, etc., Murray is often asked “How do you do this?” Growing for high nutrient content requires a good location to begin with. And there is pure well water. The rest is time, attention, and yes! drudgery. A labor of patience, and love. “If you have several months I can show you,” Murray responds, with a gentle smile.
Then you reap the rewards-such as delighted patrons like the visitor from France who said, “I didn’t think it was possible to get a decent vegetable in America until I came here,” Plaudits on Murray’s “comment” pad say “My favorite greengrocer!” - or, “Thanks for sharing with us,” “It’s glorious!” “Bless you for such a
wonderful service and a beautiful sight to drive by every day. (How do you control gophers, and what is your fertilizer?)
Concerning fertilizer Murray said, “I look at it like steroids. The athlete is harmed by it.” So may commercial products damage the soil. The garden is unharmed when controls are as natural and charming as the family of robins Murray attracts with his irrigation system, and nutrient rich soil. “They work with me to keep the worms down.”
Murray who does consulting, also shares his knowledge with college students eager to learn his ” secrets.” The gentle smile flashes again, as he’s reminded there are no short cuts to creating something “glorious!”
For such a garden is like the seasons. Each thing comes in its time, and its season cannot be hurried.
Cristy, a Los Altos Hills resident, has been writing for the Town Crier for more than 40 years. Her column is published the first week of the month.
