Aug. 18 Column: Local Gardener Profile Laurie Jarmer

local gardener profile Laurie Jarmer
local gardener profile Laurie Jarmer

Wait till you see what’s behind Laurie and Rick Jarmer’s deer fence!

I love learning about all aspects of gardening. And the best way to do that is by meeting and talking with other gardeners. For my garden column today, I have written a local gardener profile. Her name is Laurie Jarmer and you can read about her — as well as the way she and her husband, Rick, have transformed their back yard into a food factory — in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Sloped backyard is becoming a productive vegetable garden.

Laurie is a Spokane County Master Gardener. A few years ago, she and Rick moved here from Portland, where they had an enormous garden every year. When they bought their home in the Five Mile neighborhood, the yard posed some challenges but they overcame them beautifully! I think you’ll find a lot of inspiration from how they tackled them.

During the interview, Laurie mentioned how they’ve had good luck with a product called Deer Off, which is a repellent. Here is a link to the product: Deer Off. I like how it lasts a whole season because it is protected from the weather.

I’m including additional photos of their garden at the bottom of this post. Remember that you can click on any of them to view a much larger image.

In the meantime, here is this week’s “Everyone Can Grow” a Garden video. What’s the topic? August garden tasks. In it, I cover some important jobs to take care of this month which I hope you will find both useful and interesting.

And here are more photos of Laurie and Rick’s garden:

local gardener profile Laurie Jarmer  local gardener profile Laurie Jarmer

local gardener profile Laurie Jarmer  local gardener profile Laurie Jarmer

Above left: Laurie’s herb garden, which is growing in a galvanized stock tank.
Above right: the berry patch.

local gardener profile Laurie Jarmer  local gardener profile Laurie Jarmer

local gardener profile Laurie Jarmer   local gardener profile Laurie Jarmer

Above left: Laurie used to have a custom quilting business and always ended up with leftover binding (made from fabric). So she uses strips of it to tie up plants that need support! That’s a thrifty use for it and it also adds a lot of color to the garden. 
Above right: Laurie’s strawberry patch grows in another galvanized tub.

local gardener profile Laurie Jarmer  local gardener profile Laurie Jarmer

The above 2 photos give you a better overview of how their backyard edible garden is laid out. It’s amazing how much they can grow in such a small space!