Early cold season is an ideal time to start a brand new garden or broaden the old one, and acquiring the soil in shape is usually the first step. Mort's "lazy technique" of fertilizing new soil and organizing the seed bed makes organizing your spring garden a satisfaction. When I bought the 150-plus year-old house and 100 acres in Maine in 1969, I had no thoughts of be coming a back-to-the-lander. It was an investment. Then, I fell in love that same year with Barbara, and a few years later with the land. We have been living in the now 175-plus year-old house since 1972 and we are currently planning our 24th garden.
In a lot of methods, not much has occurred to us during that time. Our phone number and address are the same, but the lifeless elms that encased the house when we bought it were used for firewood years ago and replaced with maples. They were twigs when we planted them. Now they tower over us, as do our children. And our garden this year will be in the same place the first one was.
Bursting Soil
There are a couple of jobs that will need to be done just before planting season begins: A seed bed requires to be prepared and the soil requires to be fertilized. Our first garden was hand made with a spade. That's the way my father prepared his garden. If he could do it, so could I. I was digging it for Barbara to plant half a dozen tomato plants. Converting sod to garden soil is not an easy task but hand-digging is not the most severe technique. As I recollect, I even loved it. I would have to jump on the spade with all my weight to cut through the mat of grass and roots. The first spadeful had to be cut on all four sides before it could be dislodged and turned. But it got less difficult. The second spadeful only had to be cut on three sides and after the first row was turned it only took two jumps to turn a clump of sod.
Then each clump had to be bumped against the spade to split the soil from the roots. I doubt that I took more than an hour to prepare that first garden. It was tiny, but it took the tomato plants Barbara had obtained with plenty of room to spare. I planted a few potatoes right out of the kitchen just to see if they would grow.
There are a number of positive aspects to switching the garden by hand rather than using a machine. Most interesting to me is the calm. It's just me and the spade. I work at my own pace. Barbara says she likes to see me hovering on a garden tool contemplating who-knows-what. I do a lot of hovering just to amuse her. It's also good physical exercise. You feel a special sense of accomplishment. You don't do violence to the soil. More earthworms endure. It's inexpensive. But maybe the finest benefit is that you will not end up with a first garden that is too big and, ultimately, frustrating.
In a lot of methods, not much has occurred to us during that time. Our phone number and address are the same, but the lifeless elms that encased the house when we bought it were used for firewood years ago and replaced with maples. They were twigs when we planted them. Now they tower over us, as do our children. And our garden this year will be in the same place the first one was.
Bursting Soil
There are a couple of jobs that will need to be done just before planting season begins: A seed bed requires to be prepared and the soil requires to be fertilized. Our first garden was hand made with a spade. That's the way my father prepared his garden. If he could do it, so could I. I was digging it for Barbara to plant half a dozen tomato plants. Converting sod to garden soil is not an easy task but hand-digging is not the most severe technique. As I recollect, I even loved it. I would have to jump on the spade with all my weight to cut through the mat of grass and roots. The first spadeful had to be cut on all four sides before it could be dislodged and turned. But it got less difficult. The second spadeful only had to be cut on three sides and after the first row was turned it only took two jumps to turn a clump of sod.
Then each clump had to be bumped against the spade to split the soil from the roots. I doubt that I took more than an hour to prepare that first garden. It was tiny, but it took the tomato plants Barbara had obtained with plenty of room to spare. I planted a few potatoes right out of the kitchen just to see if they would grow.
There are a number of positive aspects to switching the garden by hand rather than using a machine. Most interesting to me is the calm. It's just me and the spade. I work at my own pace. Barbara says she likes to see me hovering on a garden tool contemplating who-knows-what. I do a lot of hovering just to amuse her. It's also good physical exercise. You feel a special sense of accomplishment. You don't do violence to the soil. More earthworms endure. It's inexpensive. But maybe the finest benefit is that you will not end up with a first garden that is too big and, ultimately, frustrating.
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