Four years ago I planted my first garden. I LOVED every minute of it that summer. I love playing in the dirt anyway so it was good to have a “reason” to be doing it! :) I had so much corn, cucumber, zucchini, summer squash and beans that I was giving TONS away. I’m also the first one to buy the “odd” vegetables….that first year, it was yellow tomatoes. I did it more to be different but now those are the only ones I want!! They are sweeter than the standard red tomato and although when you use them to make spaghetti sauce, it turns a greenish/tan color it is YUMMY.
The second year, my garden was just kind of blah. I wasn’t as into it, I honestly don’t think we got anything edible out of the garden except cherry tomatoes and maybe a couple carrots. I am HORRIBLE with seeds – a packet that will plant a 100’ row, I tend to accidently dump the whole thing in a 3’ section. OOOPS!
Last year I didn’t garden at all. For a couple reasons, I was discouraged by the utter failure the year before. I also had two foals and mares and the stallion and the kids and was still really struggling with the losses of Buck and Star. And the biggest factor was that I didn’t have a rototiller of my own. Dad has always ‘tilled for me and with his working 40+ hours a week plus having his own garden and yard to tend to, he doesn’t need to be doing my garden too….and before you ask, no I can’t use his tiller. A: I was afraid of it (I failed shop class in 8th grade because I was afraid of the saws/machines) and B: I’d surely break his tiller and then I’d NEVER hear the end of it!!
About a week ago, I was debating a garden at all. My brothers junk RamCharger was STILL sitting in the midst of my garden spot, I didn’t want to ask Dad to till up the ground, did I want to spend the time/money etc to do it even…..Well, Dad made the decision for me. He was at work and saw a rototiller on the side of the road for FREE! YAY! Cause we know people always give away their BEST stuff right? But when I got the call to “go get it RIGHT NOW” who was I to argue? So I drove over and picked it up. The lady told me “it doesn’t run maybe it can be fixed I just want it out of my yard”. So when Dad got home, he came down and looked it over – he fiddled with a couple things, pulled the cord 3 times and TA DA it started right up! Now, I honestly thought he wanted it for himself and was going to take it up to his house to unload it but he unloaded it in my yard. Put it in gear and played with it a little in the driveway and then asked where I wanted to put it……um? Huh? Ken asked him if it was his new tiller or moms and Dad said, “well, by all rights it should be mine but I’m gonna let your mom have it”….I told him that was unnecessary but he just said “well maybe I can borrow it sometimes” LOL He left me with stern instructions not to run it until I got oil – no problem there….I’m still scared of it remember?
So Friday my plan was to get started on the garden – shifting the garden down some to get around the Ramcharger that was supposed to be moved Thursday night but Dan was too busy breaking my truck window *sigh* Well the best laid plans right? I can’t remember why, but I didn’t get around to starting it….probably more because I was afraid to try it without someone to dial 911!! Dad came down and asked why I hadn’t started yet and I just shrugged…..so he put in oil, we put gas in and he started it up. His first swipe and he decided that he’d go get his mower and mow the area first because the longer grass was more hassle than necessary. I had intended to use the push mower on that section before we started but the mower hates me and won’t stay running. Anyway!
Dad ended up doing the initial ground breaking for me and when he got up towards the top, he said “here you go” YIKES!! I only had one small mishap – my first turn with it, I almost ran into the ram charger…….I got a firm talking to – was told to STOP fighting with it, and when I whined “but it’s HEAVY” I was told that if I thought it was heavy, then I wasn’t a farm girl…..GRRRR, ok so it wasn’t heavy when I stopped PULLING on it trying to stop it from going forward while I was trying to lift it up…..*sigh* So I did the last pass over the garden and towards the end, was pretty comfortable with the beastly machine.
Dad left me with instructions to till it up again in the morning, let it dry, do it again, let it dry, do it again and so on. We also discussed how much lime to add to the ground. The first year I added lime and the garden was awesome, the second year I didn’t and I’m sure it was just coincidence that the garden was a flop and then last year the ground just sat so I figured it’d be best to do the lime again. We also discussed what I should plant, I’m planting no carrots, radishes, spinach etc this year – I’m going to stick mainly with plants ready to go in the ground this year.
Saturday morning, mom, the boys and I set off for the greenhouse. I bought buttercup squash, pumpkin, yellow and cherry tomatoes, onions, watermelon, cucumber and cabbage plants. I also bought corn, bean, pea, zucchini and summer squash seeds……now here’s the problem, do I have enough room?? I worked the ground twice yesterday (Saturday) and the plan for this morning was to get up, hit it with the tiller and then go get lime, get the lime on it and till it again and then plant either tonight or tomorrow morning. It rained last night though so I wanted/needed to let the ground dry up some before I tilled so I went and bought lime, came home and got the ground tilled and just as I was finishing up, it started raining again. Once the shower passed, I spread the lime but then went DUH! I forgot to get gas for the tiller so was planning to run and get some when Dan and Dad brought my couch down and things got out of hand from there. Mom ended up picking up my gas but by the time she got home, it was dark so I’ll get it tilled again in the morning and then plant it.
Dan did come get the ram charger yesterday afternoon, so I do have an extra 10 feet or so that I can add on to the garden if I decide to – might see if Dad will help me with that in the morning – I’m more comfortable with the tiller now, but still nervous about the jumping and twisting it does with new ground. I had intended to have pictures to share of the garden in stages but kept forgetting the camera and then when I did finally remember it today, it started raining!! So I promise a picture blog for tomorrow including pictures of my wonderful new best friend Preston. :) He’s still the worlds coolest cat even if he does have a “hair problem” LOL
PS – I have overcome my fear of most power tools/saws by the way…..I do realize how silly it was of me to be terrified of them when I was younger.
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