Lynn gardener displays an especially green thumb

LYNN – Gardening is a fairly common hobby, but few people have a thumb as green as Ed Stetson, whose garden is so large, he can pick beans from his third-story window.But beans aren’t the only things he grows in what he calls his “garden in the ghetto.” Through the tangle of vines, there are cucumbers, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, a couple varieties of tomatoes, sunflowers, dahlias, roses, mums and more growing in his crowded but enchanting plot.”The secret to a good garden is good soil and good fertilizer,” he said. “I fertilize every week.”He has grown some of his tomato plants, his cucumbers, and his parsnips from seed, while the others he planted as young plants. And despite how beautiful and bountiful it looks now, the fall and the cold weather is just around the corner and he will have to plant it all again in the spring.With all of the food Stetson is growing, there is no way he can eat it all. He does freeze a good amount so he can eat his own vegetables year round, but he also gives away a lot of his crop to neighbors and friends. His son, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild also get to enjoy his harvest.”They don’t have a garden. I feel good giving it. I get to brag a little bit too,” he said, laughing.Besides the bean vines that crawl up the side of his house, Stetson also has a 20-inch cucumber and 9-foot sunflowers.”Those are the seeds you keep for next year. They have good bloodlines,” he said.Stetson uses no water from his house to keep his garden fed. Instead, he has three large bins, known as rain barrels, that collect rainwater from his gutters, which he uses these to water everything.”The water we drink is too pure. Plants want water with something in it. [Rainwater] is better for them,” he said.But it’s not all fun and games.”Weeds take up the water and use up the nutrients and are a pain in the back,” he said. “I put down newspapers to keep the weeds down and put horse manure on top and then in the winter the manure goes into the soil.”Stetson has to pick beans every day to make sure that they’re perfectly ripe, and says that the time just slips away from him when he’s out there.”I can spend three or four hours in the garden, rearranging stuff, trimming. I do a lot of pruning. I come out here, and then its 5:30 and then all of a sudden it’s 7,” he said.At the age of 72, he knows he’s not getting any younger and appreciates the exercise he gets from being outside.” I enjoy it. I enjoy giving it and eating it,” he said.