“We both grew up with gardens,” said Renee Naeger.

Originally from Missouri, she and her husband Bob came toBrookhaven via Knoxville. They were looking for a house where theycould have a garden they could use not only for fruits andvegetables, herbs and spices, but also decorative plants andflowers.

But finding the right house to do it was almost a challenge.

“We didn’t want to have a lot of property to maintain,” ReneeNaeger said.

And they found a house on the corner of Morningside and Edgewoodon the west side of the city. Since they bought the home threeyears ago, it has transformed.

In the fenced-in backyard and in the front all the way out tothe road, a visitor will find all sorts of growing and blooming.And it does bring in the visitors, Bob Naeger said.

“Dozens of people go by our yard, and they’ll ask us what we’regoing to plant this year,” he said. “Sometimes we didn’t know theyknew anything about us.”

Last year the front yard was adorned with some butternut squash,and Renee Naeger said people steadily stopped when she was workingin her yard to ask her about the vegetables.

“I’d come out to do something that should take 10 minutes and itwould end up taking two hours,” she said. “One time four cars werelined up to ask, ‘What are those?’ It’s a nice way to meetpeople.”

Part of the unique look of the yard comes from “teepees” made ofbamboo that the Naegers use for the vines and other plants to growon. Renee Naeger said they came from an idea one of their daughtershad, and they look much better than metal tomato cages or woodenposts.

And among the rows of tomatoes and beans and herbs, there areblueberries and sunflowers, and in the side yard there are fruittrees. Bob Naeger just looks for things to add to the garden on thefly.

“There’s really no master plan,” he said. “We just put whateverwe like in there, we just started planting.”

The garden can almost put all the food they need on the table,too. Their daughters Samantha, 21, and Chloe, 17, have both beenhomeschooled, so there is always a full table at dinnertime.

In addition to the growing vegetables, the family also grindstheir own wheat for bread and crackers. That keeps the nutrientsfrom being stripped, and the bread not only tastes good, but isgood for you, Renee Naeger said.

Lincoln County Mississippi State Extension Service DirectorRebecca Bates said what drew her attention to the Naegers’ gardenwas that they had utilized a normal, city-sized lot and turned itinto an attractive and fully-functioning garden.

“People say, ‘I don’t have enough room for a garden,’ or ‘Ican’t handle a big tiller to put in vegetables,'” she said. “But(Renee) did it beautifully by incorporating vegetables and herbsinto her existing ornamental beds. She did it so artistically, it’sbeautiful.”

Also a real positive of the garden, Bates said, is the fact thatit will turn out exponentially more than most people would expectto see come from a garden inside the city.

“She will harvest more vegetables than that family can eat, andthey’ll eat fresh fruits and vegetables all summer,” she said.”Then they also have a fall and winter garden.”

It just goes to show, Bates said, that there are ways toimprovise wherever you are if you want a garden.

“Everybody has room to grow vegetables, because they don’t evenhave to be planted in the ground,” she said. “You can do containerswith vegetables that are incorporated, like an Italian containerwhere you might have tomato in the center, then basil and thymeplanted around the edges.”

And Bob Naeger agreed.

“Don’t be afraid to start just because you think it could be toobig,” he said. “You can always move things if it doesn’t work.”