Garden

This year's garden is looking good, so far. So much depends on the weather with a garden--too much or not enough rain, too hot or too cold, late freezes, windstorms--all can put paid to the best efforts.

Here is our garden right now:

yes, the pea fence is leaning, LOL! Fixing that today. Needs better stakes.

I remember how this piece of land looked when I bought this place. It was covered with small trees, growing so thickly together that you could shelter under them in a heavy rainstorm and not get too wet. Hickories, ash, who knows what else, all crowded together, and under them blackberry and greenbrier vines. I remember clearing it with a little bow saw and clippers, then after a few years, when most of the stumps had rotted, we plowed it. What a job that was! Rocks, roots, the tractor getting hung on remaining stumps that had to be hacked out of the ground.

One of our early gardens, not the same space as I am writing about in this post. This one was full of briers and roots too, though. Photo is from 1977. We'd moved into our largely unfinshed house in August of 1976. Rough going for several years! Those little boys are in their 40's now.

The first time we planted this ground, we grew Bloody Butcher corn, a red-kerneled corn that makes the best cornmeal ever. The stalk grew thick and tall, so dark green they looked black. That was some rich dirt. The follwing year, we grew potatoes here, then tomatoes we sold at market. Every one of those early years the ground was a battle to work up, as roots and rocks and briers were everywhere.

Over the years the soil improved in texture as we added mulch and continued working it. Now it was a simple matter to till and plant, and the weeds are, after 40 years, the usual kind and not the tough horse nettle and other baddies I fought over and over and over.

Last year I took over the garden early in the Spring because Larry was getting his knee replaced. For most of our marriage the garden was his, and he really didn't want me in there telling him what to do. Because my way of gardening and his are quite a bit different. He learned oldtime ways from his father, and they didn't grow the kinds of things I like to grow. His dad grew tomatoes, potatoes, corn, beans, and cucumbers and that was about it. I like to grow onions and cabbages and carrots and beets and all kinds of things.

Last year we bought a new rototiller, one I can manage, so that I could keep the gardens worked until Larry was able. I also insisted on mulching a lot more than we usually did, putting cardboard under mulch hay. It paid off with great results and less weeding and tilling.

This year, the garden is mine again, at least until summer storytelling calls me away too much. I have really enjoyed it, too, being out there planting and tilling and watching over my baby plants. Larry is happy to let me do it--and would you believe, admits that I'm a better gardener! Or maybe he's just saying that to encourage me to keep at it.  Whatever the case, I am like a mother with a new baby, and getting nearly as much pleasure from my patch of ground. Come June, Larry knows he might be getting in there again, and honestly, I love working with him in the garden--as long as he lets me tell him what to do  😉

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.