Gardening Pros and Cons June 2009
Before John and I returned to the country to live, we had a clear understanding about a few things such as row crops and large gardens. And at this writing I’m reminded of that understanding.
I recently received a litter from a quilting friend who has moved to the lovely north Georgia Mountains and among other things, she asked for gardening tips. One thing I strongly suggested was that she start small – it’s a lot of fun to till the soil in the spring, plant and watch it come up and grown, but weeding and harvesting in July and August can get old in a hurry. I remember one year we had an over-sized garden and about August 15 I was so weary from the gathering and freezing/canning that I commented at church that I was praying for frost. A young man who had just moved to the area from the North was overheard asking someone why Mrs. Crumly was praying for frost in August.
Another time I remember was when a city fellow moved to our Georgia neighborhood and decided he wanted to make a garden. He was a frequent visitor to the seed store where our friend worked. This man made many seed purchases and asked many questions. He goes home, plants and waits for the plants to come up – after a couple of weeks he returned to the seed store to tell our friend that something was coming up that he didn’t plant! Boy, did he have a lot to learn.
Every year about this time I make a vow to have strawberries at home next year – I love to eat them right off the vine – grit and all. But to keep the strawberry bed weed free in the summer months calls for more work than I’m willing to give, so I suppose I will always buy what berries we eat. Another crop we have tried to grow is peanuts – the grass will take this crop over in a flash. We wanted to grow peanuts from seed given us by Mr. Ivan Scott – they had come originally from Jr. Gus Spence — you guessed it, grass ate them up. I’ve decided my peanuts will have to come from Planters cans/jars from now on.
This year’s garden has a few beans, two tomato plants, two pepper plants and chickens. Short of shooting them, we have decided that it’s impossible to rid this farm of chickens – they are part “game” and can fly over the moon. There is a young man who would like to have them, but so far he has only been able to get one and she was setting on a nest of eggs. Oh well, live and let live.
So often I’m reminded of what John’s Aunt Myrtle says, “It’s fun to live on the farm when watermelons are ripe.”
Agreed with the watermelon fun thing — but we gave up on them too. Last ones we grew were planted too close to the cumbers – you probably know that those two will cross pollinate. We do now. But the horses thought they were delicious. Couldn’t decide what to call them —
Sorry. Spell check didn’t catch that — cucumbers.