The time is getting closer….final preparations outside are taking place since the baby plants are getting bigger everyday. There is much anticipation in the garden since this whole process means we are closer than ever to growing vegetables. I am very concentrated every morning on selecting the strongest baby plants, making sure everything is watered, taking stock of what seedlings just aren’t growing and studying many YouTube videos on different methods of growing. In this time of isolation and countless hours at the house, it has been a real treat to be able to escape monotonous thoughts for a hobby that I love. I do feel in a weird way that we are blessed that this virus outbreak has happened in the spring, when we have the potential of growing food, storing food and providing for ourselves. If this would have been the late fall….I definitely would not have been prepared and would have had no potential for preparation for almost a year. So we should count our blessings, even the weird ones.

One of the things I was very certain of when I started this was that I wanted to demonstrate three different types of growing methods early on. I didn’t want any readers to be mentally stuck the way I was when I first started….watching people in videos tilling up their “small” two acre garden plot and not being able to immediately figure out how I could make it work in the space I was working with. Yes, there are so many videos and garden blogs and pages about different growing styles and gardening in small spaces. But some of the contraptions in the videos need physics degrees to be able to decipher and assemble, they just weren’t for me. I want clear cut, straight forward gardening that anyone can do. I want simple instructions and most of all….I want production from my plants. The time I save NOT trying to build the Noah’s Ark of bean trellises, I could be canning food or pruning plants or even napping. If you can do that sort of thing, great. But as WEBCAJUN used to point out often….work smarter, not harder. So my goal is to demonstrate as simply as possible three common types of straight forward, backyard gardening….in raised beds, in pots and in the ground. I am going to try and steer clear of things I feel make the process complicated.

So yesterday was the first day the sun was out in a while, so I decided to do some tilling and clearing, in order to continue on my forward motion of getting things ready. My first order of business was to set up the in-ground garden space. It had been a very long time since I tilled up ground by hand, it was as tough as I remember. I did feel good about being in much better shape than I was ten years ago.

So although this is an exciting time, there is much more work to be done with make this area a productive garden. But that is tomorrow’s post folks. For now, I have to rest my old ass 🤣