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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016
Photos by Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Sheila Beveridge’s mom plants several types of flowers in a plot of the garden drawing butterflies in the summer.
THE FAMILY
GARDENER
Q: With the season changing, what are
you doing in your garden?
A: Adding nutrients to the soil for vege-
tables. Rock dust, harvest supreme, chicken
manure. I’m going to use my worm bin cast-
ings this year, too. I’m trying to igure out
where everything is going to go. I’ve already
planted half of my garden space. Seems like
there’s never enough room for all of the seeds
I want to plant!
Q: What is your favorite plant?
A: There’s a plant for every purpose or
occasion so choosing one as a favorite is dif-
icult. The red curry squash comes to mind
because of its beauty and utility. It can be like
the star of the garden. It grows so swiftly cre-
ating a gorgeous wall of green, and the bright
orange squash feeds more people than you
might expect. Also my fava bean plants make
me happy and even that creepy movie (“The
Silence of the Lambs”) can’t ruin it for me.
in the
garden
Q&A
with
Sheila Beveridge
Q: What do you think will be your big-
gest challenge this year?
A: Flea beetles! They eat so much of the
foliage that the plant ends up looking lace-
like. Oddly it doesn’t seem to stop the plant
from growing vegetables.
Q: What part of your personality is
relected in your garden?
A: A curiosity and love of nature. I like giv-
ing plants a try. I’ve tried peanuts, quinoa, corn
salad, medicinal plants, various ground covers
and vegetables I’d never seen before. There are
so many great catalogs out there now it’s mak-
ing it easier to try something new!
Q: Describe the pleasure you get from
working in your garden.
A: There’s something about working in
the garden that nothing else can fulill. I love
a good soil, and worms, and all the life that
buzzes around. The satisfaction of choosing
what I grow and watching it from seed to har-
vest is wonderful to eat and share. But I also
love watching the various stages a plant goes
through to its maturity. You learn a lot about
individual types of plants and the relationship
they have with other forms of life. Some plants
Sheila Beveridge and her parents grow a
mix of vegetables including a mesclun mix.
will suddenly draw in butterlies, or bees, or a
spider that changes color. It’s fun to see what
color the lowers are of a caulilower or that
you never knew they could take up so much
space! It’s a process of continual learning and
a communing and appreciation of nature. And
it’s always fun to talk about plants or soil with
other gardeners and trade extra plants.
I enjoy time with family. I don’t have room
for a vegetable garden so I have to travel to
my family’s garden space. It’s a family garden,
and we enjoy it together.
Sheila Beveridge
Q: Is there a book on gardening that
you would recommend?
A: “Growing Vegetables West of the Cas-
cades,” by Steve Solomon.
Sheila Beveridge, a former massage thera-
pist, is a real estate broker in Astoria.
Chards grow in the
garden.
W hile other n ew spa pers give you less, The D a ily Astoria n
GIVES
YOU
From left: H illa ry Borru d ,
M a teu sz Perk ow sk i,
Pa ris Achen
O u r n ew
M ORE
C APITAL
B UREAU
covers the sta te for you