Not Your Mama's Garden Tour

Yesterday my husband and I spent a delightful day in Sparta, GA at the Not your Mama's Garden Tour. Robert and Susanne Currey (pictured above) bought and  lovingly restored the Harley Harris Rives House in downtown Sparta and turned 2 acres of the overgrown "formal" gardens into an organic treasure.

They call it Elm Street Gardens. The gardens are located in the back of the house.

They use a no-till organic process. Constant mulching and companion planting a a focus. 

Beautiful bedded rows of fresh goodness.

Here is my husband checking it all out -- row by row.

I so wanted to snatch up one of these beautiful lettuces.

Flowers are interspersed with the vegetables, making the garden a visual delight.

There were several hoop houses to protect the tender plants from the hot Georgia sun.

Inside one of them was a plant I had never seen before. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was an artichoke.

They also keep bees - they have of the nicest beehives I have ever seen. Little bees were all over the garden but no one seemed to mind. It was as if the bees are used to people.

The house is just wonderful -- i wanted to go inside, but it was not open. Maybe they will do a Christmas Tour and have the house open. 

It is your typical Middle Georgia planter style -- a great square house, with eight rooms, with wide halls, and porches. There are several of these house sprinkled all over Hancock County.

This is the back of the house. It has a solid ground level basement with walls of granite. We did walk under there and it was so cool and refreshing.

The front of the house is pretty but not as imposing as the back. It sits close to the street and is flanked by the required magnolias trees.

I do prefer the back view.

You can learn more about these gardens and see more pictures at Elm Street Gardens.

We also toured the Sparta Imperial Mushrooms.  I was so fascinated by the lecture and process that I didn't take one picture except the outside of the old building.

Then to finish our day, we drove down to Glen Mary Plantation to check on the restoration process. It is moving along slowly, but I guess these things take time.

Pat