A Garden We Will Grow

As a kid, my Dad gave me a little section of his garden to plant my seeds. Carrots and radishes. Easy to grow and especially fun to harvest. He also watched "The Victory Garden". Remember that show? I was hooked. When Bart and I were first married we had two years of big gardens and then we moved to a house with shade. Shade, shade and more shade. I was able to put in a couple of tomato plants here and there...a home grown tomato is...dreamy and delectible and almost worth cutting down a tree or two. I said almost!


I have been determined this year to put in a garden. After all we have vast amounts of dirt around our new house. We do, however, have a number of hurdles to overcome. The first - we have clay soil...not just a little clay, but hard, compact, takes all your might to get a shovel into clay soil. The man who excavated the basement couldn't stop talking about how hard our ground was...your house isn't going to go anywhere, not ever! What's good for the foundation, is bad for the garden.


This same man came to do some work on our driveway. Hmmm..."could you maybe take that huge bulldozer into the backyard and dig a 12" deep hole about 25' X 25'." "Sure, I'll use that hard, hard, hard clay for the driveway!" So I then called the landscaping company for topsoil. They referred me to a local concrete company. Huh??? The nice man said, "Well, yes, I have some good dirt for a garden. I'll send a load over today." No kidding!!! The world was moving fast now.


Bart came home and we went to the hardware store to buy all the really good stuff...composted manure, peat moss and compost. We spread it all over the new dirt, and our neighbor, Matt, provided the finishing touch. His tractor has a roto-tiller on the back. Thank you, Matt!

That night I dreamed of seeds, starter plants and rows of ripening vegetables. Step one, check! Step two, build the raised beds.