Planning For A Garden
More Work Than I Expected.
Activity At San’s House
I missed the garden I had started in 2021 at our old house that had to be sold since I ran out of money by losing my wife’s SS check when she passed away on November 2, 2023. I thought of going back to the 15876 NE Holladay St. house to see what was done to the backyard where the garden was located. I never did, though, because I couldn’t have done anything about anything that the development company did “to make the house saleable.” I liked what I had started and would have wanted to make more of the backyard a large garden.
In September 2024, I moved in with Sam, my youngest son. (With the bare necessities while the rest of what I kept and would need later was being stored.) I spotted a spot on the south side of their garage that would become my small garden area when it was prepared. I had to take care of the Ivy and the dead and dying arborvitae trees first. A good portion of that work was completed by the first week of December, so that is when I could start working on the garden area. I finished working on the Ivy and arborvitae trees on the east fence line so the morning sun would shine on the garden when it rose above our neighbor's house.
I had covered the proposed garden area with a layer of cardboard to kill the grass and weeds for spring digging in preparation for the spring planting. Instead of waiting for springtime, I started the digging. I am thankful I started the digging because of the work it will involve. I soon had two concerns to deal with.
The first concern was the roots from the arborvitae trees and the Ivy. It looks like they will be covering the entire proposed garden area. The roots make the digging more difficult.
My grandson warned me of the second problem area. These were all the rocks they had found hidden about five inches under the good topsoil. The stones range in size from a marble to about the size of a small football. I use a “potato fork” to do the digging. The tangs go into the soil but “clang” on the larger rocks they hit. The larger rocks are the ones hard to “dig out.”
At first, I had a five-gallon bucket beside me, and I would toss the rocks into the bucket. Later, when I found so many, I would throw the stones onto the soil I had already turned over. Now, the entire area I have dug is covered with a multitude of rocks of varying sizes. When I have the garden area finished digging, I plan to pick up each rock and toss it to the side of the garden. I am not sure what I will do to finish using the rocks. Maybe I will have a “hen and chicken” rock garden.
I hope to have the digging done before the ground freezes. Then, when it warms up in spring, I can rake the ground, pull the roots out, and get the garden leveled and ready for planting. I haven’t decided yet on what to plant, but most likely, it will be the common garden vegetables. I have thought of planting the cucumbers near the fence so the vines can use the fence as a trellis.
You may find me digging in my garden when it is not raining and not too cold.
If you stop by wanting to help, please bring your personal potato fork, as I only have the one I will be using.
12/15/2024 Larry E. Whittington
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Where we had moved from had those. I thought one was small enough to dig up. The part showing was about a foot across. I started to uncover it and it ended up three feet across. I covered it back up.
There's a lot to be done in the garden in winter. One year I put in a pond in December. I also have rocks. We are on the Missoula floodplain in Rockwood. Which is why they call it "Rock"wood.