The reality of gardening

Getting our garden plot ready for planting has been no simple chore this year. The ground has been fallow for three years, and it is showing signs of our neglect. The first step was to spread old leaves throughout the garden in anticipation of our neighbor's tractor coming in to till. It sure didn't look like a garden plot at this point.


Stage I

Once we started spreading and prepping, we discovered how many rocks were surfacing. Rake, pull out rocks, rake, pull out rocks...we still have way too many rocks in the soil. I will have to hand out buckets and offer a penny a rock pretty soon. I could easily go broke, but my offspring need the money and I need those rocks gone.


Stage II

We thought our garden plot was large until the tractor next door came rumbling down the hill. Suddenly we were dwarfed by this roaring invader. Our chicken coop corner took a beating, but the soil got well dug up. It was free, it took ten minutes, and the difference was amazing. Thanks, Gary!


Stage III

Every year we add compost and soil amendment to improve the quality of the soil, but we have a long way to go until it is rich and black and moist. This year's solution is to start building raised beds. There's another motivation for raised beds: our last garden was decimated by rodent visits. With chicken wire under the boxes, we are hoping to keep those rodents frustrated. We made as many boxes as we had free wood, and then everyone dug, dug, dug to get soil for filling them up.


Filling the boxes

Sifting through composted dirt, bringing soil down from the upper part of the plot, plus adding bags of top soil and amendment has resulted in three relatively safe boxes to fill with vegetables.


Stage IV

One day this week we will head over to our local nursery and buy tomatoes, peppers, herbs, flowers, squash, melons, pumpkins, and whatever else grabs our interest. We'll buy some seeds but mostly seedlings; we can't wait for the fun stage -- actually planting things.

Confession time: see that blue chair in the garden? That's been my spot for most of this endeavor. If it was up to me, we'd be experiencing yet another fallow year in the ol' garden plot. It's hard work, and I haven't felt up to it. Fortunately, the youngest two love building things with their dad, our oldest son has been desperate for money to buy a new bike, and we have been able to spread the load amongst us to keep it from being too nasty.


Many hands make light work

Our hope is to make some sort of cover for the boxes that will allow us to extend our growing season past the early frosts, and to keep them up year 'round. I love weeding rows, keeping track of pest problems, harvesting, and putting up the harvest. It's just that prep work that gets me down. I am grateful that my family has been able to do Stages I - IV of the garden, and I will gladly hand over my blue chair for them to sip coffee or read a book in the early summer morning hours when I am weeding, watering, and wrestling with tomato bugs.