My Garden

The garden is my peaceful place. It has become that for me. I dare not go in there unless I plan to stay. It is a place where I easily lose track of time. I wander from plant to plant, row to row, pulling weeds, tying up vines, trimming off extras, making mental notes on what needs to be done. I used to get really anxious about it. The garden was half the size and large walnuts and mulberry trees hung over the North side. Before that it was not fenced and the edges kept creeping over it. Before that it was in a different place. It was in a lower spot in the property, right next to where it is now. It had been a garden since the 1930’s until the last few years before we moved in. Chloe’s Great-Grandpa and Grandma grew everything there and fed the family all over Springfield with this garden. Grandma tells how she would come and help with the canning. Grandpa tells how he sat together with his mother under the maple tree and shelled beans. He told about this as we sat at our dining room table together last fall, shelling beans. They tell about how Great-Grandma took the harvest into town to share with relatives and days when relatives came to help with harvest. I came to know these stories bit by bit, but not until I started to garden in earnest. In the spring of our first year in this house we planted a garden in the usual spot. We waited a long time for the ground to become dry enough to take a tractor in there. The ground lay low and water pooled. It was past the middle of May when Mark finally took a plow to break up the sod. We planted corn and watermelons and potatoes. I don’t remember what else we planted but nothing did very well. The deer came in and made beds in the corn. I insisted that we plant in a different spot but I got voted down each year. Each year we planted but we lost interest quickly. June was a busy month for me at work and I worked long days in the office. By July the weeds would have taken over most of it. Mark put a chicken wire fence around the garden but it didn’t really keep anything out. It mostly marked the place where weeds were free to grow. Every spring we got excited about a garden but by July we were done with it. I remember that we ate a meal of corn once. It was different. I began to go to the farm market down the road for canning tomatoes and beans. I bought boxes of corn to freeze. I canned tomatoes together with my neighbor one year and she taught me about timing and where to buy vegetables. Every year after that I would order my tomatoes and can them. They were pricey compared to homegrown but they tasted so much better than store bought. The spring after Chloe was born I planted 24 tomato plants. I was able to fill the canner a couple of times before the plants died. I planted beets and kale and carrots but nothing came of them. The only other thing in there was a bed of strawberries and that became a thistle bed. One year I decided to move the garden spot. There was a piece of higher ground on the North side of the property where the water never pooled. It was rough but I was hopeful. Now I was armed with all the knowledge on the internet. I had started to raise chickens just for this purpose, manure. I used leaves to cover the ground in the fall. Mark tilled a small area and I was happy. Next spring he was able to till it up much earlier. I planted beans, tomatoes, onions, cabbages and asparagus. I was excited about it and I did get some beans and a few tomatoes, but nothing did really well. It was the same for a couple more years. The bean beetles were horrible and cabbage worms ate everything, the clay was thick in most places and the hot sun baked it. The next year I began to use more straw and we put all the chicken coop bedding onto the garden and horse manure from a nearby stall. We tilled and tilled. I rotated crops and Mark doubled the size of the garden. A gardening friend gave me 12 small garlic cloves and I planted them in the fall. I also planted potatoes again. Those two crops changed everything for us. The garlic was so easy to grow and tasted so amazing. The potatoes were so delightful to dig up just in time for dinner. As Mark began to get to know the local farmers and glean useful methods and tips from them, our garden also grew and flourished. Last year I grew the best beans I had ever grown. They just kept coming and they were beautiful and I had extras. This year we will have corn. We have a tall fence but the deer still jump over it and eat what ever they want, but we planted extra of everything. The deer did eat all my beets though and this year my onions all died or were eaten, I don’t know, they are gone. The soil in the garden is becoming soft and balanced. The trees which were hanging over the North side have been trimmed back. I have cabbages, broccoli, beans, shelling beans, tomatoes, peppers and squash. Eggplants, peas, cucumbers, asparagus, rhubarb, sweet potatoes, corn and popcorn. The garlic is hanging in the garage, over 80 heads. The garden is my place where nourishing things grow and my soul is peaceful and blessed. This is where I connect with the earth and God’s creation, where I bring the children and show them the dirt. I instruct them to take care of the dirt because from it comes all this food.

Elizabeth Williams, daily writing exercise, 1,017 words.