Tiny gardens help family values thrive

I happened to be watching TV at 6 a.m. on Sunday, April 12. They were interviewing a woman who had written a book on “Tiny Gardens.” Her story brought to mind my first tiny garden at my house at 6 Butternut Circle in 1956. 

I had recently been discharged from the U.S. Air Force, married Mary Florio, and bought my first house for $16,000 under the G.I. Bill. In those days, houses were numbered by the sequence in which they were built on the street. When a fire hydrant was located at the end of Butternut Circle on Bedford Street, the house number was changed to 74, the number of feet from the fire hydrant. 

One of the first things I did at my new house was build a tiny garden. I grew rhubarb, a few vegetables, and some flowers. I wanted to teach my two sons, Louis and Robert, how to plant, care for, and harvest a few vegetables.

Almost everyone on Butternut Circle had a tiny garden. Mary would send one of the children out to pick a couple of carrots, a zucchini, or a squash. I would not let them cut the rhubarb, because they would have had to use a knife. 

The tiny garden was designed not to feed us but rather to demonstrate how vegetables grew and were cared for. I am 94. I think it would be a good thing to do these days. It just might help our children and grandchildren appreciate the meaning and joy of family. 

Ray Snay

Everett Street