First ‘Front Yard Garden Tour’ Sept. 7

The gardens are all on the Heights and mostly located in clusters. Each garden is different, Kraemer said; some take up the entire front yard (and continue to the back) while others are patches. All feature “examples of edible vegetable and fruit gardening, vertical growing, perennial fruit trees and berries, native plants and wildflowers, xeriscaping, terracing, season extension, cover crops, square foot gardening, raised beds, seed collecting and saving, crop rotation, and making use of micro-climates within a yard,” according to the Hood River Heights Front Yard Garden Tour website (extension.oregonstate.edu/county/hoodriver/events).

“It’s hard when you’re looking at your blank slate of lawn to think, ‘What can I even do with it?’” Wickersham said. “And so this is really a good way to say there’s endless ways that you could tuck things in — you don’t have to get rid of all your ornamentals. You can put fruit right in the middle of your roses or your peonies.”

QR codes will mark unique features in each garden with resource links. Hood River County Extension, along with program partners including Gorge Grown Food Network, Hood River Soil & Water Conservation District, Food Hero, Dirt Hugger, Thrive, and Arts in Education, will have kids’ activities and information tables.

Kraemer likened the tour to a “walking Pinterest board” and hopes people will take pictures, collect links and resources and be inspired to create something similar in their own front yards.

“Hopefully it shows that anyone can do this, no matter how much area you’ve got,” Kraemer said. “We’re not talking, like, acres of homesteading — just a few little raised beds or plots that you have.”

Each garden has its own name on the map, like “A Cautionary Tale Garden,” located on C Street, “Twist and Sprout Garden” on A, and “Sparrow’s Perch Garden” on Eugene. The map also includes water and restroom availability, as well as which agency is hosting tables.

Kraemer said the idea for the tour came from her own neighborhood and front yard garden, one of the first on the street. “I had always thought it would be fun to do a walking tour of front yard gardens and see what people are growing and highlighting them,” she said. “And then I approached Megan with this idea — like, this would be a cool partnership between our family and community health, healthy eating programs and Master Gardeners.”

Wickersham said the tour reached capacity with 11, given the four-hour tour window, but “we are really hoping this will inspire other people to say, ‘Oh, I’d love to [be on the tour] next year.’”

Dogs should be left at home. You can drive the route, but walking, biking, rolling and strolling are encouraged. For a map, visit beav.es/phy. Printed maps will also be available at the Extension Office, 2990 Experiment Station Drive, Sept. 3-6. The event will take place rain or shine, but if the Air Quality Index (AQI) is above 201 due to wildfire smoke, the event will be canceled.

For more information visit the Facebook page (search Hood River Heights Front Yard Garden Tour) or the Hood River County-OSU Extension Service event link, above.