Wichita-area gardeners give us a peek into their yards

Readers give us a peek into a corner of their yards in a new Home & Garden feature called “In My Garden.” This week we hear from a teenage “rookie” gardener who may pursue a career in agriculture – or pipe organ; a preschool owner who encourages lots of playing in the dirt in her backyard; a Bel Aire man whose college sons always seem to be re-creating the pond (he rather wishes they wouldn’t); and a woman whose garden was on a garden-council tour 12 years ago but has seen many changes since then.

We invite you to tell us about your garden as well, and we may feature it in the future. Send a brief description along with a jpeg photo, your name and phone number to acalovich@wichitaeagle.com.

Teen gardener

Dakota Bennett, 15, gardens with his family, including two younger brothers, in south Wichita. He is the son of Gary and Carlene Bennett.

We have a 9-by-4-foot herb bed, and the main garden consists of four 22-foot-6-inch by 4-foot garden beds. We just harvested the potatoes, so there’s a lot of open space where we’re going to grow corn. We’ve been trying to garden since I was 5 or 6. This is my first year to be really successful. I enjoy doing it. I’m considering an ag degree, or pipe organ.

Dakota Bennett, Wichita

Preschool digging

I own Kreative Kids Preschool in west Wichita where we have created an oasis in the backyard for the children, who are 2 1/2 to 5 years old. They have a hands-on playground with the ability to dig for worms, watch the caterpillars on the milkweed, play under the weeping willow and weeping mulberry bush, grow their own peppers, flowers and herbs, have water/sand/mud play daily and play in the fountain, as well as fill the many bird feeders/water places. I think children today are craving this kind of atmosphere.

Kimberly Stringer, Wichita

Creative sons

My sons Daniel and Michael, who just finished their first year at WSU, have, over the years, created a peaceful backyard sanctuary for our family and friends. It includes a pond and waterfall with various plants surrounding it, a raised fire pit area, an area which we have vintage family games such as horse-shoe toss and washer toss, an area with a hammock and a wood-burning stove, a small rose garden and even a hunting-tree stand which we use to practice our archery skills. We also have two separate areas for outdoor dining or just to sit and read our Bibles while enjoying the sounds of numerous birds that frequent our home.

I am the maintenance yard man at our house! And I enjoy every minute of it.

Curtis Lee, Bel Aire

The garden at age 21

I was on the June 7, 2003, Wichita Area Garden Council garden tour. My garden was a little over 9 years old back then. Needless to say, my garden is now 21 years old. As in one’s life, so too in a garden. It has had losses and gains over the 21 years. One of them: the loss of a big elm tree in the January 2005 ice storm and a replacement in spring 2006 that Don at Brady Nursery sold me on – a handsome Urbanite ash. What a gain it has been. It has matured and is admired for its form. As all gardeners know, a garden is always changing, from a warm March morning, to a sunny May day, to an ice storm in the month of January.

Jan Bauer, Wichita

This story was originally published June 26, 2015 at 1:38 PM with the headline "Wichita-area gardeners give us a peek into their yards."