Posted by Suzanne McMinn on May 30, 2008 @ 5:05 am
Daily Farmhouse Journal
I know when I posted pictures of my obstacle garden recently that many of you felt great pity for me, and I feel compelled to confess that that was not my real garden.
I was too humble to post pictures of my real garden and I didn’t want anyone to feel inadequate. But I must, now, show you my real garden.
I know. What can I say? It is so awesome.
My peas are coming along nicely.
As are my onions.
Weeds dare not touch my tomatoes.
And my corn is coming up.
Please, do not be afraid now of my amazing and fabulous garden. I can’t help it if I have incredible botanical skills, if I have a soul-mate type connection with the earth, if the very soil speaks to me and sings my name. It’s a gift, a blessing, a wondrous–
Who is that in my garden? GEORGIA!! What is SHE doing in MY garden?!
“If you ever want to have a garden like mine, Suzanne, you’re going to have to work. You’re going to have to–”
“pick up–”
“–that–”
NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
7:37
am
See…that’s MY problem with a “real” garden…I love the idea of it but the doing of it - I tried last summer as my current home came with a large garden and mini-orchard… but at this point in my life I decided container gardening was for me. My neighbors took the fencing and raised bed material and now the garden is at their house and I have a new meadow…
However, YOU have teenagers - labor! - well, maybe not but you can try
!
7:38
am
Oh…THAT garden is beautiful!
7:52
am
Georgia presumably has the time to put into her garden; she’s not juggling raising three kids and a writing career.
The trick is to get your kids out there hoeing. I *hated* having to do garden work when I was a kid, but I had to. You know, back in the days when kids were disciplined and were taught to respect their elders, obey their parents and all that. Before they were coddled and over-indulged.
So if you don’t have time to pick up a hoe, get your children out there earing their keep!
-Kim
8:03
am
I have garden envy! But it’s best that I don’t have something that large. I had my kids helping me weed my 10×10 garden a couple of days ago and for all the complaining and whining they did, I almost told them just to leave and I’d work in peace. The general thought pattern of the kids was, “Why are we doing this? We can just go to the store and buy food.” Sigh. They’ll thank me one day, right?
8:15
am
Good one, Suzanne!
I wish for a BIG garden also. Don’t have time. My small garden is suffering this year. Oh, well!
8:31
am
*snork*
I think bigger gardens are easier to handle than smaller ones, personally. More room to move.
8:40
am
It’a great garden, especially since Georgia comes along with it. I don’t even plant veggies anymore. An older gentleman down the road plants tomatoes and sells them for about a dime a pound. And another friend trades enough corn for a year to let her granddaughter ride with my girls!
I bet your kids are a huge help, didn’t the boys put in a fence for you?
8:42
am
Oh, how I detest that tool. I think you should go out on the porch and have some pie.
9:30
am
Oh yes….the weeds do come. The garden does look great and your onions are so big! Keep up the garden updates as I am doing the same.
http://lifeislikechampagne.blogspot.com/
9:35
am
Ha!
9:49
am
One of the many reasons I do not have a garden.
I hope Taco is around for several more mornings for you.
10:15
am
Ha! You almost had me–I thought, man she’s got a huge garden down in her meadow!
Hoeing can mostly be avoided you know, if you can get enough old hay, straw or grass clippings to use as mulch. We’ve been mulching for years, and the gardens improve every year from the added organic matter. Weeds pull out easily too, so the hoe is only needed right at the beginning before things are big enough to be mulched. On our ridge, the much helps hold in moisture too, so even during last year’s drought we had a pretty good garden, and excellent tomatoes.
I have a couple small gardens that I tend by hand i.e. hoe. Then there are three other mid-to-large gardens that require the tiller and only partially mulched. We also have one of those really small rototillers that is a wonder for getting the weeding job under control. That might be something you’d want to look at for your obstacle garden. That and mulch–you will definitely need mulch to make that garden grow.
11:13
am
Daaang. I wish my garden looked like that!
11:19
am
LOL–my patch veggie patch is a fraction of that size, but the flowers… eek. It is a lot of work, but fun
11:46
am
We (your readers) should have known this was not your garden…as we have seen from pictures you don’t have that much flat land around your new house. Tell Georgia you will trade rides to town for produce.
Yes, get a rototiller…well worth the money…the boys will be able to handle it quite nicely.
Amelia
11:57
am
Oh how I envy you all of that fabulous sunlight!!! If I could, I would have garden that size, however, I have a willow tree on my small lot that dominates with shade. I love how it cools off the yard & the house, but anything requiring strong light suffers. This year, I had to put my “garden” in large pots so I can move it around into the sun. Yours looks great!
12:54
pm
CRACKED ME UP!!! Georgia’s garden! LOL Oh well, YOURS will look like that one day..when you HOE. LOL I wish I had a big ol garden, some land…out in the boonies! I LOVE LOVE LOVE gardens!!!! All those fresh vegies and fruit. Oh well, guess I’ll have to hit the fresh produce stands…and just dream.
2:36
pm
Awesome garden!!! I’m jealous…I’m a container girl, myself. Just because I’m afraid…yes…there, I said it! Hello, my name is Kim and I’m afraid of a big garden, even though I want one!
By the way…when you kids (or you) moved to the country from the city, did you need to be re-educated as to what a REAL “hoe” is? LOL!!!
3:32
pm
I want one! I want a real garden. *sigh* Too bad my green thumb is pale green. *G*
3:46
pm
‘Real’ gardens are ‘real’ hard work.
3:50
pm
That is a pretty garden, Just a side note. For me your main page is not updating.
(I am using firefox but I also tried with IE and still came up with the same page) It is stuck on the post about the hard day. I think it was last Sunday. I was glad to find out today that you where still updating things. I loved the post about the chickens settling in to their new home. 
~A
4:33
pm
LOL I only have onions in pots and those look like they’re 3 times the size of mine.
4:59
pm
The mulch suggestion is right on…..never have to weed, and the vegetables are so clean. Try it. Bales of hay work great.
5:07
pm
You will have to get 52 to teach your kids how to use the hoe.
5:26
pm
Alison… I don’t know everything…
a couple of suggestions to refresh…if you know how to clear your temporary files - NOT all of your browsing history or cookies, just the temporary files, that might help.
and if you have a dsl modem - modem/router combo, cable modem or satellite modem…reboot that if you know how. Those modems typically have some memory and I have occasionally had problems with mine holding an old page - particularly if there was some sort of unusual outage or my computer hung.
I would suspect the modem memory before the temporary cache since you have tried 2 different browsers.