Spring

[Kath]

Spring... I love it.  It's hard work for us gardeners.  I employed a young man last year as I need help now to get it set up with toting stuff about and filling pots and many other jobs.  After he spent a couple of hours following my instructions, he said 'this gardening stuff is hard work'.  That made me really laugh, I couldn't believe he thought gardening was just sticking a few plants in the ground.

I've done all this work myself for many years, but as we get older, we have to accept our limitations now.

Well, that young man turned out to have a drug problem, so he's out of the picture now.  I found another one who did some work for me at the tail end of last year... when I saw him last, I said 'see you in the Spring' as I waved to him.

I do hope he's around so he can help me get set up for growing and planting.

 

[Merlin]

Imagine their surprise if these young men had to work the land to produce food for their family to survive. It's very hard work. We had a small vegetable garden about 200 feet square. That may sound small but working that garden was a full time job every summer. First you need to plow the previous years remains under in the fall. Before planting time you had to plow again and clean any remaining trash or roots plus spread manure to cure. Sometimes lime was needed to sweeten the soil. Not often though. Plow in raised rows to plant seeds in. Plant seeds and water. Keep the chickens and wild birds from scratching up and eating the seeds. Water some more every day or two. Hoe the rows to loosen the soil for roots to grow. Cull out any weeds that start root. Continue hoeing, weeding and watering all summer. Put up runners for the beans to grow on. Keep the crows out after the blossoms turn to produce. Check every day once plants start producing and harvest the ripe crop. Wash and prepare the veggies for canning. Can, label and store the jars of homegrown produce. All the way to the Thanksgiving. Then plow under for the next years garden. We loved working as a family. Those bonds are still strong to this day. Even though we are far past working the garden now. But we reminisce about the pleasure of growing your own food.

 

[Kath]

You know, you are right Merlin.  People don't realise the work involved in growing food.

People think gardening is all pretty flowers and veg that grow with no effort from you at all. It's so funny when the realisation hits them.

I cut back a lot because it's too much for me now.  At the moment all I have growing is some Purple Sprouting Broccoli, In the next few weeks I should have a delish veg to add to my plate .  I always say, grow the expensive stuff you love to eat, I don't bother with onions or carrots, they are REALLY cheap to buy. 

At the moment, I wish I had chickens, but I don't have the space for them, but... I use very few eggs, so not a problem for me.

A thought Merlin... an experienced gardener I watch said in his YT video that garden lime would sweeten the vegetables he grew... WOW!  I couldn't believe what I was watching.

I had to tell him that garden lime was to sweeten the 'soil' not the veg - making it less acidic, not sweeten the veg.. I had to explain by saying using adding sugar to lime juice was the same thing.  There a whole load of knowledge base out there, just find it, it's usually us old wrinklies that have that knowledge.

They will learn like we did, it takes years to amass all this knowledge.