GROW AND TELL: Magit takes free-form approach to her garden

Susie Magit is a relative newcomer to gardening. An artist by profession, she lived in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., for 30 years.

Not only was Magit used to a relatively short gardening season there, she says that, because of the relatively long winters, "I spent more time inside than outside."

Then, about six years ago, she and her husband, Doug, bought a second home here. Enjoying the newfound sunshine and the chance to be outside for more of the year, Magit decided to give gardening a serious try.

"I didn't know what you could or could not plant here, so I just started planting things," Magit recalls.

"I'm just an average Joe. I decided to do a vegetable garden, and the first year I planted a tomato plant and got three tomatoes or whatever.

"We tried bougainvillea one year and it died, and we thought, 'OK, these probably don't work here.' It's just trial and error, figuring out what grows here and what doesn't grow here."

Magit has taken classes and studied up a bit since those earliest gardening efforts but still takes a free-form approach to the art of gardening.

In her flower garden, for instance, "I throw seeds in it, and it's survival of the fittest," she says.

Same with vegetables.

"That first year, I followed the directions where you plant a tomato every 10 inches or whatever and never felt I had enough to do anything with.

"So the next year, I thought, 'Why not do what I'd been doing with flowers?' and threw plants in each container to see what happens, and I have had the most incredible vegetable gardens."

And the same with trees.

"I didn't know whether you could plant a fruit tree or not," says Magit, who now has an orange tree, a lemon tree, a lime tree and a peach tree, as well as grapes, in her garden.

This year for the first time, "I decided to throw some bulbs in, and my irises just opened," she says.

Not everything has taken, of course. But if there is a lesson in Magit's approach, it might be something like: Don't be intimidated. Just let it rip.

"What have you got to lose?" she says.

Magit has come to love gardening. Having plenty of sunshine here helps, she says, and "I realize what I missed in Mammoth is being outside, getting vitamin D and getting my hands dirty. I don't wear gloves. I like the feel of dirt in my hands.

"I have been blown away by how much I love it."