Mary's Container Garden

A few years back, Mary became friends with Herb and Odessa, and their dog Elmo, during walks around our old Linden Street neighborhood in Alexandria. At the time, they were in their late seventies; they had lived in the neighborhood since the late ‘40’s – she grew up here. Their house is built on two lots.

In addition to walking Elmo, they kept in shape by tending a large “truck garden” in the backyard, where they grow tomatoes, corn, summer squash, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers – just about anything you’d expect to find at a farmers’ market in Alexandria or Luray – right there in the middle of their suburban yard, two hundred yards from the subway. Odessa puts up the bulk of the produce so they have it year round, but they often gave us some of whatever was fresh – big piles of tomatoes, eggplants, peppers – all that is good. We pair it up with the summer grilling, but once Mary even made a ratatouie!

Our friends are still with us, now in their eighties. They've scaled back some this year so the little truck garden isn’t as big as it used to be. Mary checks in with them sometimes to make sure all is well, and sometimes I'll pick up a zucchini bread or carrot loaf at the Arlington farmers’ market that she can take by to them.

Being friends with Herb and Odessa has inspired Mary to try her hand at growing some of these vegetables. It’s an upgrade for her – she used to only grow a container of cherry tomatoes every summer, in addition to herbs and spices. This year she has broken away from that tradition, and has quite a few things coming up in the containers.

Cherry tomatoes, as always, are the basic crop, but she also has two varieties of regular-sized tomatoes, a red one and a yellow one. As the photos show, she also has peppers and squash going, and there is a basil plant mingling in there.


Soon, one night not too long from now, we’ll have an appetizer of tomatoes and fresh mozzarella (I’ll pick it up from Whole Foods if we don’t find any fresh made in the markets), drizzled in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, with fresh basil leaves plucked right from this plant. We’ll pair that up with some “Big House Pink” if it is a warm evening, and dine al fresco in the back yard. What’s not to like?