Hoyt Oliver hasn't had to buy vegetables all season.

He and his wife, LaTrelle, have been working on their gardens at their Oxford home since 1975.

When they first got the property in 1973, it only had one row of hedges, a felled stable and 16 junk automobiles out back.

Now, the property has multiple gardens and playgrounds. He focuses mostly on growing vegetables, while she tends to shrubs, flowers and play areas for their grandsons, 4-year-old Luke and 2-year-old Simon.

Hoyt began gardening with his father and continued it with his participation in the Future Farmers of America.

The "secret garden" - located through a veranda next to the house - is void of vegetables, but features flowers, shrubs and small landmarks, such as a weathered cedar stump he found on the property.

"My grandsons love it out here," he said. "They like to explore and sometimes they find creatures hiding," he said, pointing to a colorful lizard figurine.

Another non-vegetable garden features a wooden tepee built by his son Erik, covering a sand pit. The sand pit features an excavation tool, which the kids often play with.

"They pronounce excavator like ‘escavator,'" he laughed. "They can name about 30 different earth-moving machines."

LaTrelle got her idea for the playground from various places, including the American Horticulture Society's symposium on children's gardening.

"She really got into the idea of outdoor playscapes and natural living," he said.

Hoyt's gardens make up in produce what they lack in play structures. He has a few raised-bed gardening areas and a separate, 40-by-40-foot garden.

Vegetables abound in his garden, including tomatoes, asparagus, corn, cucumbers, peppers, green beans, eggplants, potatoes, squash, okra, and a variety of herbs.

To encourage growth, Hoyt believes you should start from the ground up - literally.

"I use compost in the soil, and I never use pesticides," he said. "For every tomato plant, I dig a big hole and put at least three shovelfuls of compost."

His compost mainly comes from the waste generated by his property. He uses kitchen scraps, lawn clippings and plants left over from the growing season, and this year he added horse manure.

The gardens are irrigated with water from a pond, a dammed portion of Turkey Creek toward the back of his property. The irrigation system works well because the animals living in the pond enrich the water's content.

"We have an irrigation pump in the cooler by the pond," he said. "There's also a snake that likes to go into the cooler when it gets hot. Whenever I need to turn the pump on, I pull the lid off and walk away for a while to let it leave."

He's got a green thumb for vegetables, but melons are not his forte. Hoyt said he cannot successfully grow watermelons or cantaloupes, though he tries each year.

When there's something he cannot grow, Oliver prefers to shop local, and encourages others to do so as well.

"I am always pleased with local food supply," he explained. "The strawberries from Mitcham Farms are much better than any strawberries you can get from California."