Gardening 101

As you surely know by now, I live on a farm. And part of farming, is gardening. For the last few years we have put out a garden, and it seems to get bigger every year. I must admit that Billy Paul is the gardener and I am the helper, and I will also admit that he does a LOT more work in the garden than I do. He loves to garden and does a great job. Here is a picture of our garden after a long winter's nap.




It is hard and won't grow a thing. That's why you need a PLOW.

This is called a three bottom plow. The tractor pulls the plow through the hard ground and breaks it up.

Looks a lot different, huh?? But, as you can see, the ground is still very rough. You couldn't put little tiny seeds in this and expect them to do very well. That's why you need a tiller.

You were expecting a hand tiller weren't you? One of those things that you hold onto with two hands for dear life and it shakes the fillings right out of your teeth????? Well, we have one of those, and we use it to till between the rows once the garden is planted. But to get the entire garden ready, we use this tiller.

The above picture shows the left side which has been tilled and the right side which was just plowed. Once again, you can sure tell a big difference, can't you???

Thank you Cole for being a good tiller. I don't run the tractor very well, but Cole likes to do it, plus it was really cold this day, so I let him do it. He's such a good son.

Here are close-ups of the difference the tiller makes.

The above picture is ground that has been plowed. The below picture is ground that has been plowed, then tilled.

Now, we're ready to actually PLANT SOMETHING! These are onions. We planted these about four inches apart and only about 1 inch deep.

Now that's a very basic overview of how we garden. I am certain there are as many different ways to prepare a garden and plant a garden, as there are people who like to garden. But that's how we do it, Down On The Farm!!!!!