Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

If you have a nice lawn or garden, this past 90° weather was memorable. You were out there watering in the muggy heat. It’s a labor of love to keep the garden and lawn thriving.

My grandpa had a grape vine and vegetable garden. I asked our Somerville neighbors to share their memories of the old backyard gardens and what people are growing in their gardens today.

“My next-door neighbor was a lovely 90+ Italian woman. She had the grape vines across the driveway and a garden in the back. She would pick her grapes and fruit and tend to it every day. She passed a few years ago and they took it all down paved the yard. Sad.”

“I was doing tomatoes, peppers, and cherry tomatoes for a few years, but my back won’t allow me to do anything in a garden anymore. But it was fun but a lot of work.”

“When my grandparents moved into my parents’ house, I was three years old. My grandfather (Pa) quickly dug up a small patch of ground and started a vegetable garden. Even though it was a small garden, a few select neighbors would get a tomato or two.”

“Yellow and purple grapes and six different types of tomatoes, beans, peppers, lettuce, zucchini, and eggplant.”

“My grandfather had a huge garden in the back yard and a grape vine. We also had a huge cherry tree we would climb and eat the cherries right of the branches!”

“I have aloe everywhere from my original plant of over 40 years. Basil, rosemary, garlic, onion are it for now.”

“The guy next door had Concord grapes. The smell of those grapes throughout the neighborhood was wonderful.”

“Tomato, peppers, squash, thyme, mint, cilantro, eggplant, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, apples, peaches, pears, limes, lemons.”

“I have beans, tomatoes, peppers, cukes, eggplants, chives, walking onions, kale, lettuce, mustard greens in the back vegetable garden. Apple trees, grape vine, blueberries, elderberries and Josta berry (courant/gooseberry cross) on the sides and flower gardens with too many types all around.” Wow!

I used to love eating the grapes and gooseberries from my grandfather’s yard.

Growing a productive garden Is a great way to honor family traditions. Passing on the passion for growing things is a great way to keep family memories alive and thriving. Seems like anything can grow in Somerville.