Judy and Bob Whites’ friends and neighbors call Whites’ backyard “King’s Palace.”
But to Judy and Bob it’s a normal way of life. You might say they both have green thumbs, or green arms. They plant it, it grows. Stepping into their backyard on a hot, humid Iowa day is like stepping into a rain forest.
You expect to see Toucan Sam or a spider monkey hanging by its tail. The Whites both work second-shift jobs, so it gives them time in the morning when it’s cool to putter around in their garden.
The first thing that caught my attention when Ginnie and I visited was not the flora, but a rustic sign that summed it all up like whipped cream on a mint julep milkshake. “Garden: A special place to plant hopes & dreams for the future.”
They even have a banana tree! Judy is Filipino and grew up in banana country. They have to bring the banana tree in every winter, and then it goes back out in the summer where it wants to be.
The weather is hot and humid right now, which is what it likes. If the weather would stay hot and humid the tree would make bananas, like their koi goldfish made baby fish.
When the Whites moved into their house in 2021, there was a backyard pond that was so full of sludge that they didn’t know if there was anything alive in it or not.
Bob cleaned it all out and installed a lava-rock filter that catches good microbes and kills the bad. Lo and behold there were two foot-long koi goldfish alive and swimming. Then they had babies, six of them.
The Whites went away one day and while they were gone there was a terrible storm that knocked the power out for five hours. When they came home the fish were dead, with the exception of one.
The average mature koi goldfish needs about 400 gallons of water. The pond was 900 gallons. But with the babies there wasn’t enough oxygen.
The Whites decided to fill in the pond. It is now a lush asparagus patch and strawberry bed. They started with three strawberry plants three years ago, now there are dozens. Their dog likes to sniff through the strawberry patch and eat its fill.
Because of their small backyard, they pretty much grow everything upwards, using poles, fencing and trellises. Even melons are climbers!
An Amish lady told them that a melon plant only produces a certain amount of sugar and distributes it evenly to each melon. So, for really sweet melons and cantaloupes, they pluck most of them off and keep only a few.
The Whites have the sweetest few melons they have ever eaten, like it explodes in your mouth.
They planted their garlic in October and have harvested it already. Once it’s cured and taken out of its husk, they grind it in a food processor, put it in plastic baggies, flatten it, and flash freeze it for one hour.
They then make 1½” squares, like a checkerboard, and freeze it solid. Whenever they want garlic for cooking, they just break off a chunk, no peeling, no fuss no muss. It’s so convenient.
The Whites don’t just raise green beans, they raise long beans (over a foot long). Asians love them and cut them diagonally into 2” pieces, freeze, and use them in stir fry.
If you’ve never heard of bitter melon, don’t feel like the lone stranger. Asians love them, they’re quite bitter, but stand up well in the heat. Fixed with eggs and other ingredients, they’re one of Judy’s favorite garden delicacies. Bob won’t eat them.
The Whites’ tomato plants are taller than they are. Bob builds cages out of cement fencing, which keeps them upright. He likes to plant the tomato plants when they are 2 feet tall.
First he strips most of the lower leaves off, because the little white hairs on the stem will turn into roots. But his real secret to award-winning tomatoes is that he waters the plants through a 1-1/4 inch hose that he sticks in the ground where the base of the plant will be.
He does not sprinkle water on the plants because disease from the dirt can splash back up on the plants. Interesting.
The Whites didn’t have to plant any dill this year, and they have lots of it. The seeds, once they dry out, and blown by wind, will grow just about anywhere. It smells good and they use dill in all kinds of cooking.
I don’t know of anyone else who raises sweet potatoes, but the Whites do. Judy says sweet potato water is good for high and low blood pressure, and the leaves are nutritious in soups, like spinach. Come fall they harvest the sweet potatoes. They’re very versatile plants.
Bob shows us his miniature peach tree and laments that it’s in its off year, producing only 15-20 peaches. Last year, however, the tree had a bumper crop filling eight five-gallon buckets, and there wasn’t anything “miniature” about the peaches. They were baseball size.
Bob also built a greenhouse in the backyard. Next year they will grow most of their plants from seed. In his spare time (hardy har har) Bob also builds bird and squirrel houses.
People stop by and look and think the Whites’ backyard is the bees’ knees. But Judy and Bob White just enjoy what they’re doing in making their backyard a little Garden of Eden. It’s their happy place.
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