Pushing Seeds Into the Mud

The last five days have been about nothing but dirt, sweat, plants, and exhaustion.  It seems that every year, towards the end of May, all my months of careful garden planning turn to panic and chaos.  This time was only different in that the obstacles have upped their game a bit.

 

This year's trouble actually began last year with a broken tiller and lack of funds to replace it.  Granted, it was secondhand (to say the least) and a tad over 40 years old…..but still, broken!  Why?!  <---- sarcasm

 

Non-surprisingly, that issue did not correct itself over the winter.  After much angst and debate over what to do, it finally dawned on me to get in contact with the gentleman I bought the original tiller from.  As luck would have it, he happened to have another one for sale for an extremely reasonable price.   I swear it is even older than the first (and definitely looks it), but it runs like a charm.

 

In the meantime, we’d also run into trouble with a dramatically broken lawnmower (don’t ask), and I suppose the weedwacker was feeling left out, because it bit it, too.  And let me just say for the record, cutting the grass with a machete is incredibly stupid……but having the grass at such a height that the machete thing actually works?  Yeah, not fun.  Suffice it to say, there was a period of nearly three weeks that I couldn’t even see the garden beds, let alone get them ready for planting.

 

But now it’s all FINALLY coming together and nearly everything is planted.  I’m mostly going with what has become standard for my garden:  purple beans, black tomatoes, white cucumbers, mini peppers and more herbs than I can actually find room to plant.  I am also trying winter squash and mini watermelons for the first time this year, so *fingers crossed*

 

All in all, it’s been a fairly normal (well, my normal anyway) start to the gardening season.  Chaos, angst, dirt-stained fingernails, scratches, scrapes, bruises, and insect bites are pretty much always to be expected.  But all of that is eclipsed by the sheer joy of lots and lots of plants, rocks, wildlife, and thoughts of the bounty still to come from all this hard work.

 

Now, I don’t suppose there’s any possibility I could hibernate until harvest time?