SUBLETTE COUNTY — The Sage and Snow Garden Club has been watching Amber and Lars Anderson’s gardens grow over several years, and this week their gardens were awarded the prestigious Garden of Beauty award. Amber and Lars built their first garden bed several years ago. It is a four-foot-wide raised bed filled with carrots, lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, asparagus, marigolds and lobelia. Later, they added another three-foot-wide raised bed planted with onions, bush beans, cucumbers, tomatoes and nasturtiums. Both beds have hoops to support an Agribon cover that is easily raised and lowered on cool nights.
Lars created an efficient drip irrigation system for the garden bed by adding a separate zone to the existing irrigation system and drip hoses to accommodate the specific needs of the garden beds. In addition, they built a bed for raspberries, and another for rhubarb, chives and strawberries. They made excellent use of their yard space by placing large containers in nooks and crannies to grow zucchini, potatoes, lavender, oregano, cilantro, parsley, basil, geraniums, alyssum and petunias. 
Their “Fourth of July” tomatoes are grown in lick tubs placed on a moveable cart made from a pallet that is pushed in and out of the garage on cool nights. Their beautiful front and back yard is filled with mature cottonwood trees, lilacs, currant, potentilla bushes, and a flower bed filled with hollyhocks, poppies, columbine and hostas. 
Lars and Amber are very aware of the importance of good garden soil and were able to secure some excellent native soil to add to their garden beds and large containers. And, this year, they built a compost bin to enrich the garden soil with homemade compost. These gardeners are eager to improve their gardening skills and increase the production of their vegetable gardens. 
Amber enrolled in Arlinda McLaughlin’s BOCES garden classes last winter and has incorporated many skills she learned into her gardening practices. It is refreshing to see young adults make an effort to grow some of their own food, and this family is a great example of working together to achieve that outcome.