Spread the...dirt?

I LOVE vegetables.  I really do.  I love the crunch of a cucumber and celery and carrots and peppers.  There is nothing more delicious than a ripe tomato still warm from the vine.  The feeling of dirt under your nails and between your toes while sweat trickles down your head to the base of your skull always takes me back to being about eight years old, sitting on the porch with my grandmother stringing green beans.  

We always had a garden.  I felt like it was gigantic.  We would work in the garden for what seemed hours on end during the summer, carrying water in watering cans.  Then, as produce came in for the season, we would help my mom can beans, peppers, and tomatoes, and make jellies and jams.

When we moved into our house five years ago, I was thrilled to learn that our next door neighbor also loved to have a garden. So, after talking briefly about it, we/he tilled up a fairly largish spot in the back kind of in between our houses.  Looked pretty out of sorts in our subdivision cul-de-sac, but we didn't really care.  That first year, I felt like the garden was pretty big.  In reality it was probably about 15 feet by 15 feet.  I planted mostly tomatoes and peppers.  A salsa garden, really. 

In the years since, our garden has grown a little bit at a time, we've added blueberry bushes (I think we have 5 now), and we've tried some new things.  We usually just divide it down the middle but share produce as it is ready to pick. 

This spring, I wasn't so sure I'd even get a garden in the ground. The tiller we borrowed wasn't working, I couldn't load it up into our truck without possibly getting a hernia or cutting off a limb, and I just didn't see how I was going to have the time.  Between keeping up with and trying to market the bus, working my "real" job, being a wife and mom (read taxi and housekeeper), I was lucky to get in a workout, much less weed a garden.  So, I didn't start any plants inside from seed, and had pretty much relegated myself to the farmer's market.

Well, low and behold, we came home from church one day to find my neighbor rented a tiller and had a fine start on some ground plowed and ready to go.  After expanding the size of the garden about four feet on each side, he was worn out.  My hubby was kind enough to help out.  As an aside, working a tiller in the Tennessee mud is akin to running a jackhammer on three foot thick pavement.  I think hubby's arms were sore for 2 days but I had a garden!!!

Not having a plan, I did what any computer dependent person would do...I googled "garden plan."  I looked at about 5 websites, and quickly located one that looked like it would suit my needs.  I took our youngest veggie lover to the local hardware store and we bought some seeds and plants to get 'er started.  

Of course, I can't follow a recipe so why would I follow all the garden plot suggestions.  I always need to make it a little bit my own.  I omitted the cabbage and chard, planting a little more lettuce.  Not sure if it'll even grow with as hot as it has already been this year.  Also left out the broccoli.  I've just never had that much success with it.  Instead, we planted cucumbers.  My girls LOVE cucumbers.  

After a few quick hours of work, here's the finished...bare looking product! Hopefully I'll be able to update with a post of a really healthy lookin' garden in a month!  In the meantime, I'll be out weedin', diggin', waterin' and spreadi'g the dirt in all my spare time.  You might even catch me with tomato juice dripping down my chin at some point.  At least I hope so!