It seems that everyone wants to garden these days. A little packet of seeds and some dirt. It's certainly cheaper than buying fresh produce at the grocery story or the farmer's market. Even the White House has a vegetable garden. It all looks so very easy. The key word here is "looks." Farming -- even the small garden variety -- is hard, hot work.
First, you've got to decide what to plant. It's easy to say "peas" or "snap beans." Do you know how many different kinds of snap beans there are? I figured it would be easy to choose the type to plant. The round ones, not the flat ones. That only brought more choices. It's a good thing my father knows the name of what he plants every year. I think I need to write it down. I'll never remember on my own.
Fortunately, he has a tractor and planters. It makes it go so much faster. Of course, we have a large garden. Some things though still have to be planted by hand. Tomatoes do better if they're small, growing plants before they're placed in the garden. So you get to dig a hole, put in the plant, then fill the hole with dirt. As the plants grow, put stobs up so you can tie the plant to the stob. That's a stick. Strips of cotton fabric work well for the ties. If you don't do this, the tomato plant can fall over with the weight of the tomatoes and ruin everything. And don't forget to fertilize the soil! Did I mention that you get to do this in 90-plus degree weather? Gardening does require an extra application of deodorant.
Our garden is growing beautifully. My father says the snap beans should be ready any day now. I figure they'll start coming in about the time my mother leaves for her annual week at the lake with her friends. Canning is not my specialty. Not that it matters. Ripe vegetables and fruits wait for no one.
The butter beans (lima beans to those of you outside the South), cucumbers, corn and peas are all looking good. God has blessed us with an ample sun and rain mix that good crops need. Too much rain and the plants don't get enough water to grow and produce. Too much water and they become mushy and rot and die.
I got out the other day to hoe weeds in the garden. My father plows. I hoe. It's backbreaking work. I can only do it in small increments of time, say half an hour or so. It is satisfying though to finish a row of vegetables and see the results. Really. Especially if you don't think about one sad fact -- the weeds will be back in a few days and you'll get to do it all again.
The nut grass is about to do me in. Nut grass is sort of like kudzu. You can't get rid of it. I have no idea if that's what it's really named. It has thin whisps of green blades with really long roots. If you don't get that little white ball on those roots, it'll just grow back again. It's really difficult to get that little ball. Maybe some Southern farm girl named it nut grass because it will drive a sane person nutty trying to get rid of it. Did I mention that I'm not particularly sane most days?
I know it'll be worth it when the crops are ready. Then we get to pick, shell, can and, yes, eat. That's the best part. There's nothing quite like a plate full of fresh vegetables that you've planted and grown in your own garden. It makes you forget all the hard, sweaty work. Well, almost anyway.
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