By PAT RUBIN, Sacramento Bee

Hank Toulson bought a couple of wooden French wine boxes at a yard sale because he thought they might come in handy someday. He set them aside until he could figure out what to do with them."Then a light bulb went on," he says. "I looked at them and thought they could be chateaux for the birds."

It's called Officer's Row - a name that harkens back to its early 20th century military days. The garden that now occupies the space where three Victorian houses once stood is almost hidden.In fact, you wouldn't know it existed unless you accidentally looked down as you walked up, up the long roadway leading to the cellblock.

Garden advice from John and Sone Durnan:-- Draw out your plans for the garden, John says. Seeing it on paper often lets you see whether a design will work. "I draw it out for both of us and we can see if that's how it should be."

It's a love story, the way John and Sone Durnan created a garden.It's the story of two people -- one Irish, one Korean -- who never had a yard, who knew nothing about plants, but who took a weedy unkempt plot of earth and turned it into a romantic place to stroll, to sit and read, talk or admire flowers and foliage throughout the seasons.

I love running my hand across the basil as I walk through the vegetable garden. I hesitate, then breathe deeply as its spicy scent fills the air.I can't resist breaking off a stem of oregano, then crushing the leaves and holding them up to my face so I can enjoy the powerful fragrance.

Mention gardening these days, and folks are most likely to equate it with vegetable gardening.Just recently, that wasn't so.Vegetable gardening had become almost passe, relegated to the back of the back yard. Declaring yourself a gardener a few years ago more often meant you had an assortment of perennials and other ornamentals.

A quick guide for making spring gardening fun and successful.AAmend the soil by adding a handful of compost whenever you plant.Annuals for cutting: zinnias, cosmos, asters. All easily grown from seed. You can -- really -- toss the seeds into the garden, lightly cover with soil, water gently every couple days until the seeds sprout.