MONROE — Kathleen Rinear is a perennial gardener and John Jewell raises vegetables and herbs in their home garden at 2026 Ridgeway Road. 

When they purchased their home in 2014, the only plantings on the large city lot were grass and trees and a ragged rock garden along the front steps. Each year, they dug up more of the yard to create vegetable and flower beds, renovating the rock garden, creating two pea gravel patios in the backyard and building a planter out of old deck boards. 

Because they feed birds and raise chickens, they do not use any pesticides in the gardens. For weed control, they use mulch and a hoe. The beds stay fairly weed-free, but the lawn sports a healthy crop of dandelions and creeping Charlie. 

They have a good variety of perennial species. Also included in the beds are daffodils and dahlias, as well as annuals in pots around the yard. The gardens aren’t professionally designed, but they offer a welcoming and peaceful sanctuary in the city. 

The couple’s garden is one of the six home gardens that will be featured on the “Take a Garden Walk” event, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 23 that will allow walkers to stroll through different gardens in Monroe. A donation is required for participating adults; children 12 and under are free. All money will go to Monroe Clinic Hospice Home to be designated for landscaping projects.