Weed It & Reap: Julie Miller

7/28/2010

The Blade will feature a gardener each week during the growing season. If you'd like to be considered for this feature, contact Tahree Lane at tlane@theblade.com, 419-724-6075, or www.facebook.com/peachweekender.

Name: Julie Miller, biology field station assistant, living in Millbury and temporarily at Put-in-Bay.

Garden specs: Two-to-four-foot-wide flower beds surrounding three sides of the twinplex.

When did you start gardening? When I was a kid in Northwood I raised indoor plants (jade and coleus) in my freezing-cold bedroom (60 degrees in winter). Also, planting, weeding, and reaping in my parents' garden with my brother Jeff: our job was to hoe, hoe, hoe.

What do you grow? Only cherry tomatoes last fall. Just getting started in my new place. Bought dahlias, echinacea, calla lilies, daylilies, and caladium starts: I've started some in pots, some are still in the garage to be planted soon.

What do you get out of it? Dirty!

Time spent gardening: Just getting started as I have been transplanted from sunny San Diego seven months ago! This will be a joint venture with my next-door neighbors Luke, Kayden, and Addison, as I'll be working in the Put-in-Bay area this summer.

Annual expenditure: $75.

Challenges: Learning about different species, especially deciduous plants, different soils, and weather patterns of eastern/midwestern climates.

I'm proud of: I researched the reproductive biology of Orcutt's Goldenbush, a threatened plant in California, for my master's of science degree in biology.

Most used tool: My hands!

Word to the wise: Don't freak out when a plant dies - it's a learning process and we are doing the best we know how!