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Kaytland Morgan grows food, medicine and tea in her front porch garden at the Dyersville duplex she and her husband call home. One year ago, the Morgans relocated from Southeast Ohio where they were homesteading in a national forest.

Kaytland Morgan grows food, medicine and tea in her front porch garden at the Dyersville duplex she and her husband call home. One year ago, the Morgans relocated from Southeast Ohio where they were homesteading in a national forest.

Kaytland Morgan fondly remembers helping in her grandmother’s New Matamoras, Ohio, garden around the age of 6. “She’s a prolific gardener,” said Morgan, who relocated from Appalachian Ohio to Dyersville one year ago. Her grandmother and great grandmother come from large families in a region where many develop resourcefulness in the face of great financial adversity.

“If you want to feed that many kids, you have to grow your own food,” said Morgan, who describes her heritage as a combination of men with military service and women who raised children and grew food.

“Life is transient. You are responsible for your own life and you are responsible for the life around you,” is one of many things she learned from her grandmother. After a year of homesteading in the Wayne National Forest, Morgan and her husband, William, decided a move to Iowa was in order to care for a relative in failing health. A duplex in Dyersville became their next home and is the place where Morgan grows food on the front porch and the earth below.

Tomatoes, basil, yarrow, red potatoes, yams, catnip, pumpkin, pole beans, corn, tomatillos, Thai basil, Thai hot peppers, sweet peppers, peas and four varieties of tea are just the beginning. The porch garden is for food, medicine and tea with a few flowering plants to attract pollinators. Morgan keeps 27 decorative plants inside. “I have an affinity for vining plants,” she said, pointing at her trellised volunteer pumpkin which climbs up ropes from the earth to the porch. To Morgan, vertical thinking is essential in small spaces.

Companion planting is also something greatly valued by this woman who encourages others to work with what you already have while creating your garden. “Learn your space and commune with everything that already exists.”

Basil and mint keep pests away in Morgan’s garden and she advises soil health and proper watering methods must be a high priority. Morgan planted corn and beans alongside her volunteer pumpkin, a Three Sisters experiment, with the trellised pumpkin also providing shade to the more delicate plants below.

The best gardening advice her grandmother has bestowed upon her relates to the determination of plants to adapt and thrive. “Ninety percent of the things you’re worried about never come to pass. Plants don’t know the meaning of correct.”

Morgan encourages creativity, intuition, research and experimentation in the garden, letting go of the notion there is only one way to do something.

Repurposing, salvaging, swapping and re-using are all part of the Appalachian resourcefulness Morgan brings to her Dyersville garden. Her soil comes from a friend who works at a garden center. During an annual plant swap, the friend brought damaged bags of soil that couldn’t be sold to customers.

“Get in good with your garden center folks,” is another piece of advice Morgan offers. She points to her repurposed free garden center pots and seed trays on the porch, noting there are so many things they throw away that are still very useful to the mindful gardener.

Morgan was born with Cerebral Palsy, a disorder that interferes with her brain’s ability to communicate with her muscles. She spent the first year of her life in a neonatal intensive care unit, but this has not slowed Morgan down for a minute. After learning beside her grandmother in the garden, she “took it and hit the ground running,” growing her first herb garden in middle school. Morgan also learned from her mother, who created a food garden for the family by sprouting onions, celery and potatoes at home during a time of financial hardship. The year of homesteading with her husband in the Wayne National Forest offered a chance to learn more about medicinal plants, like the yarrow on her porch known for its outstanding wound healing qualities. Going through a pandemic in a forest with limited financial resources taught Morgan to be even more frugal, using what she already had or could find for free and welcoming gifts. Currently the watering of her garden involves carrying two gallons of water from the second floor kitchen twice each week, a practice she looks forward to stopping as soon as she can acquire a hose.

Morgan grows her tomatoes in felt grow bags. They can be watered from the outside, are reusable and promote healthier plants by offering a better oxygen flow around the root ball. Another bonus according to Morgan is the versatility of container gardening.

“I don’t have to worry about light. I can move them around if necessary.” Developing patience and a willingness to experiment are the last pieces of advice Morgan offers those who are just beginning to garden in small spaces. “Don’t be afraid of the ideas you have,” because gardening “is a way of showcasing your individuality.”

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