March 28, 2024

Potatoes and Pups

Posted on June 1, 2016 by in Yard 'N Garden

Retiring in Montgomery, AL, and purchasing our first house in 15 years presented a number of interesting adventures. Perhaps the most amusing adventure was my attempt to stabilize the soil where the neighborhood water drain exited through the end of our back yard, under the fence, and into a large cement drain. Rain was an unwelcome event since it heralded the development of deep mud and standing water at the back fence, resulting from our sloped yard and our neighbor’s water flow. The water level would often climb a foot to a foot-and-a-half as it flowed to the far end of the fence and finally into the cement drain. 

With the substantial slope of our yard and the frequent flooding, grass, shrubs, and flowers would not grow. Perhaps cattails and other swamp shrubs would have done well. I’d have taken anything that would interrupt the constant soil wash-off that left a barren, muddy section of yard. Jun2016YardGarden

Being a full-time working mom and Air Force apartment dweller during my entire marriage, I had little experience or knowledge of gardening. But I am a problem solver. I can Google with the best of them, and I like coming up with solutions, trying them out, and improving on them. I had two basic issues: rain with water accumulation and depletion of soil with water runoff. With that realization, I was off to problem solving.

I knew I wasn’t going to change the rainfall in Montgomery. I also couldn’t change the landscaping slope to make the yard level because we were the water escape for our neighborhood. We considered a French drain to tackle the water accumulation, but hadn’t yet made a commitment to the expense.

Was it possible to find plants thirsty enough to gobble up the water and have sufficient root power to stabilize my soil too? Wandering through the aisles of Home Depot, I discovered shelves of sweet potato plants in little black plastic trays. Hmm. So charming with their pretty leaves, I also knew they had good roots and would spread as vines. Could I stabilize the soil by planting a whole tray of these thirsty little plants? Within minutes I was at the register with my precious cargo. By afternoon, they were all planted, scattered around the area where the water flowed under the fence. Was I on the way to valiantly rescuing my yard?

Fast forward: the plan worked! The plants settled in and began their avid growth spurts. Within weeks I had a robust area of sweet potato plants and vines holding my soil in place.  How’s that for Yankee ingenuity?

Some of you who are more plant savvy may have gotten ahead of me at this point. You’ve likely figured out what happened next, but I had no idea those wonderful vines were intent on providing me a little drama and a lot of humor.

One day our clever little Montgomery Humane Society adoptees, Miss Trixie Doodle and her fairly new sister Dixie Mae, discovered a treasure and enthusiastically brought it to me. It was a fairly well-chewed orange orb. As I was a little uncertain as to what this lovely gift was, I tossed it neatly away and didn’t give it another thought.

The next day, they presented me with more. This went on for two weeks. My suspicions grew as those pups exuberantly spent more and more time among the vines. Sweet potatoes! My clever plan to stabilize the soil resulted in a hardy growth of young sweet potatoes — and lots of muddy paws. 

To save myself from hours and hours of washing paws I harvested my first batch of home grown sweet potatoes. But now, the soil that I had so carefully stabilized became a muddy pond once again, leaking under the fence on its way to the cement drain. And what’s more, our clever pups had discovered the beauty of mud baths and well-rewarded digging.  Yankee ingenuity?  Foiled by the pups and the potatoes!

Epilogue:The French drain was installed, garden fabric was wrapped around the fencing, and rocks and pebbles now help to reinforce the area. I’ve attended two gardening series at Auburn University Montgomery and am currently enrolled in the Master Gardening Class. Our pups? They, curiously, enjoy sweet potato dog food.

Ruth Padgett, an Intern in the 2016 Master Gardener Class, lives in Montgomery.  For more information on becoming a master gardener, visit www.capcitymga.org or e-mail capcitymga@gmail.com.

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