Gardnerville Ranchos family embraces green gardening

Jason and Dana Kyle pondered a problematic lawn, embraced their enthusiasm for growing their own produce organically and ended up with a truly remarkable garden.

For years, they and their two children, Logan and Hannah, tended to a backyard plot growing primarily tomatoes and peppers for salsa. Several years ago, Dana picked up Barbara Kingsolver's book, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," which chronicled her family's year-long commitment to living off what they could grow themselves and purchase locally. The idea inspired the Kyle family to embark on their own agricultural adventure.

They ripped out a large section of lawn in the backyard and built numerous raised beds out of scrap wood from a window-replacement project, purchased a greenhouse in which to start seedlings, and devised a sequence of logs and charts to track their schedules and progress.

Dana read organic gardening magazines such as Organic Gardener and Mother Earth to learn how to rotate plantings and maintain a successful compost pile. They removed rocks from the existing soil and backfilled holes with a mixture of the soil that remained and rich, organic material from Full Circle Compost. They established a red worm bin and supplied it with kitchen scraps, then used the resulting matter to enrich the soil even further. The planting followed.

The family now grows produce that rivals any farmer's market or store. Happy plants thrive throughout their garden oasis: asparagus, peas, pickling cucumbers, garlic, eggplant, lettuce, corn ("like butter melting in your mouth," says Dana), chard, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, berries, potatoes, onions, cabbages, green beans, squash, celery, and herbs such as basil, cilantro, dill, sage, lavender mint and rosemary can be found throughout the garden. This year, their plantings have expanded into the front yard. The front area boasts apple trees, melons and pumpkins; the herb garden thrives near the house.

"We get to every part of our yard now," says Dana.

There are no pesticides used in the maintenance of the garden. "With organic gardening, you use your eyes to solve your problems," she says. The family plucks squash bugs off the plants by hand and removes aphids with steady streams of water.

Although the initial garden setup was time-consuming, the Kyles estimate that they only spend about a half hour each day tending to the plants. Things will pick up in September when it is time for the harvest.

Jason says, "Our kids have been involved from the beginning. Just to see this literally sprout from seed and understand where the food comes from; it's important."

A history teacher at Pau-Wa-Lu Middle School, Jason enjoys sharing the gardening experience with his students. He adds, "Where you live affects how you live. The garden has given me a greater appreciation for the people who did this for thousands of years."

Dana, a seventh- and eighth-grade math teacher and seventh-grade leadership teacher at Pau-Wa-Lu, says that reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food," and "An Eater's Manifesto," both by Michael Pollan, got her thinking that, "we need to change the way in which we do things. We can teach kids that our footprint can be smaller."

The family looks forward to donating fresh produce from their bountiful harvest to the local food closet each year. They've begun to dabble in canning and plan to experiment with spaghetti sauce, salsa, pickles and applesauce come fall.

Their passion for the environment combined with their love of gardening has resulted in something truly remarkable.

Dana says, "Every year we try one more thing. A lot of this is just trial and error."

"And gut instinct," says Jason. "It's really just as much work as you want to put into it."

Amy Roby can be reached at ranchosroundup@hotmail.com