Yea, I can relate to olde people blues digit! Sometimes I find myself thinking about the things I used to be able to do effortlessly that are a chore now - like last weekend, we found someone giving away horse manure/compost. So DH and I drove out to Brighton to load up our small pickup truck with some of the garden gold. Geez, we were kinda pooped (no pun intended) afterwards. But we made it home (an interesting ride 'cause it was after dark and the weight of the compost made the front end of the pickup higher than the back, so our lights worked fine on the road signs but not so good on the road itself), and then of course the next day, we had to shovel it out of the truck and into the garden. Pfew! Yet, we were glutans for punishment and couldn't resist going back for one more load later that day!! Amazing the muscles that were sore after we were done that would have been nothing 10 years ago or so. Ah well .... guess it's like the saying 'your only as old as you feel'. ;^)

DH still wants to get the vege garden area more level, but rather than look for some free top/garden soil to pick up ourselves this time, we are going to pay a bit to have some brought in today. We'll still have to spread it around, but at least this will save us a lot of shoveling! So a little of the money he made by selling his motorcycle recently (a bit of a sad day 'cause it was due to his feeling it was time to hang that up) will go to pay for the soil.

But on the positive side, at least we can still do most of the work ourselves and have the initiative to garden, as I think a lot of younger city-folk don't. We (ourselves, and all the RMG'ers) know the reward of growing some of our own produce! There's just something wonderful about the accomplishment one feels after putting in the efforts it takes to put a garden together (no matter how big or small) - sweat-equity, creativeness, care, love, patience, etc. - along with the healthier aspects and just the darn good flavor from your home grown veges and fruit!!!

I don't think I would have as much initiative to take on the amount of work you do, digit - wow! Keep your heating pad and naproxen handy :^D - and heh, if you can't git 'r all done, enjoy what you can!!!!

Eighteen months ago, I decided to try something different with the garden and create a series of mounds / raised beds with walkways in-between. My idea is to continually feed the mounds with grass-clippings and compost, and let the worms do the mixing / tilling for me. It worked well last summer.

This turned out to be a good thing. I had a rough winter with health issues and there is no way I could work a tiller now. But, the over-all scheme still needs work because now I'm confronted with how to get several cubic yards of compost from where it sits sou-sou-west, to the garden thats nor-nor-east, and 100 yards away, then get it spread out along the mounds.

This is still in the pondering stage. I will probably employ '52 child labor, although I don't want to risk turning them off, for life, from gardening by mucking around in a huge compost pile when they're that emotionally fragile 13 years old. (Eeeewwwwww, Dad, thats gross!!!!!$!@#!!!) - that age where earth worms are yet to be an object of beauty. And they have that habit of growing up and moving away, so this would be a temporary solution at best.

We will see. The solution is to move the composting operation over to the garden. But...... what I currently use to corral my compost would never, ever, be shown on one of those TV gardening shows, consisting of t-posts, bailing wire, and plastic parts from old kiddy swimming pools. Even placing a few cheap garden gnomes in front of them wouldn't hide the essential hillbillyness.

Maybe a couple of those bright blue 'gazing balls' would distract the eye.

Enjoying this thread. Over the years I've been trying to reign in my protestant work ethic and move toward an approach to gardening that is less work. I'm still working too hard in the garden (and loving it), but I have been able to cut back on some of the heavy lifting and still get good results. I'm inspired by gardeners/farmers like Ruth Stout, Scott Nearing, and Masanobu Fukuoka.

Here is a link that might be useful: video - Ruth Stout's Garden (part 1)

EatsIvy, have you schlepped around a rain-soaked bale of alfalfa? I don't think I could lift one! I may never have been able to lift one!!

Misty, I have an obsessive hunger for naproxen! Or any anti-inflammatory. They all used to work great for me! Until they ruined my stomach . . . probably aided by steroids . . . From the most expensive, high-tech, designer anti-inflammatory (that might later be pulled off the market), to the cheapest, to aspirin - they worked so well.

David, I would probably be so enthralled by a gazing ball in my trials and tribulations, I would become a ceramic garden gnome!

Steve

Thanks for posting that video, eatsivy! I've never heard of Ruth, but I must say I like her gardening style for sure!!! I'm going to try to incorporate that approach more myself, I think. 'course, may have to actually water a few times out in this area with it being so dry (don't remember if the video mentioned where she lives), but her simple gardening techniques make sense in a lot of ways.

Marj

Since every body is rambling on in their olde age, I might as well too.
Yes, I can plant tomatoes. I get some one to rototiller the ground, then I dig the holes with a post hole digger. I can do this standing up. Then I get down on my knees just one time and crawl along planting the tomatoes. Remember to have a chair or some thing to climb back up with. Better remember your cell phone too,,,just in case you can't make it back up.
KennyP, soon to be 82 with ICD and bad legs.

right on colokid! I'm just 54, but hope to be gardening for many years to come.

I've rolled soaked bales around - no fun. I try to avoid doing it by keeping my bales dry. I throw a pc. of plywood, or a tarp, over them until I'm ready to use them for mulch.

Ruth Stout lived in Redding Ridge, Connecticut. She was pretty entertaining. i think she liked to stretch the truth a tad now and then - "I never weed" - come on Ruth, you pull a weed now and then I bet :) She wrote a number of books - one of my favorites is: How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back - A New Method of Mulch Gardening. Really a fun read.

M. Fukuoka's book, One Straw Revolution, is another favorite of mine.

Here is a link that might be useful: video about Masanobu Fukuoka

Have you considered no-till gardening?

Well, I think you are addressing that to me BP. No, to have sufficient mulch, I would have to bring it in by the semi load!

Additionally, I battle the slugs in the greenhouse and tunnel at this time of year. They are sometimes a problem in the little veggie garden near the bushes - I'd hate to add to the problems. Finally, I once grew a great big potato patch - all for the voles!! I tried the "cover the spuds with hay" technique. There was only one potato at the end of the season that wasn't damaged by the dang rodents that got under there!

No, with so many square feet to attend to. I think clean cultivation has to be the way to go. I do use herbicides in the ornamentals to make things easier/reasonable there. You know, the "no-till" farming is built entirely around the use of herbicides. . . . hmmmm, maybe that was what you meant . . .

Kenny, Dad and I gardened together in his backyard for many years. Even in his late 70's, I wasn't a good match for his strength and enthusiasm. He would often bring me a truck load of manure since he had the contacts with the horse/rodeo people. (Dad had gone back to work for several years at a rodeo after his retirement.)

Late 80's, I was still able to just show up with tomato starts and he was enthusiastic about getting them in his tomato patch. Dad is 93 and still doesn't take any medicine for anything, the last I heard. This might be from the many years Mom was taking care of him, decades of vegetable gardening and lots of activity.

Steve

Well, I got a start out there yesterday but then this:
{{gwi:1194842}}From digitS' backyard

It actually played out quite well because my gardening neighbor felt pity for me and showed up to till a section with his Troy-Bilt. (So, between us and DW, we got some work done on what was a short afternoon, tilling in the snow. ;o)

Steve

LOl,, Steve,
been a while since we have been in and you gave us a giggle.Thank you..
I had to struggle with where in the heck can we put the vege garden, here at our place.After having an acre and a half vege garden, the greenhouse, and acres of flowers for years it was a shocker to not have any where for the vegetables to go..When I lived down at the base of the mission mountains there were no slugs and the Ruth Stout method was a favorite of mine,,
But here up by Flathead lake, ugh there is slime every where..Anyhow we did find a place for the garden, over the drain field.However we went with the straw bale garden which has been extremely good to us.So good we are teaching classes this year.Hopefully it will not be quite as good a year for slugs.They were a big pain in the rear last year..
We turned the huneys 80 year old mother onto straw bale last year and she loved it, She would call and giggle about taking 5 minutes to weed her garden..
We also enjoyed snow the last couple of days here,, personally I like it..You know what I really miss about getting older has been the kids all grew up dang it.I miss having them complain about doing the heavy or tedious work,, LOL.Course the way we garden these days there really is not much work involved that they could really whine about,,
Mary

Good to Hear from You, Mary!

May have finished the tilling today! But, the spading fork and shovel will be my companions for quite a few more days. Our 28F morning turned into a somewhat sunny, 55F afternoon!

The first one of these opened beside the garden:

{{gwi:1194844}}

The Olde-timers don't remember a year that it has taken so long to warm up; and that's official: The latest in history for the area to reach 60F.

I was out with the spading fork in the garden as soon as the snow cover melted yesterday. There's an advantage to gardening in glacial gravel. Still, it was muddy and I had to work a little harder not to create clumps of "aggregate" or something that resembles asphalt!

Tilling was completed this week after what must have been close to 10 hours on the machine. Returned to section already in beds and finished nearly half the spading fork work. Will try to finish the other half today.

The day is dawning blue-sky clear! There is a chance that the thermometer will finally hit 60 by tomorrow before we are plunged back into clouds and rain!

I am running the greenhouse as cool as I dare trying to slow things down. It seems obvious that I have started everything too early for this year . . .

Steve

This olde person couldn't get by in the garden without a handy folding kneeler stool. Helps my knees, gives me something to push against when I stand up again, and you can flip it over and have an instant seat.

Here is a link that might be useful: kneeler stool

Turn about is fair play, Digit! Light snow here--and no sun at all so far today! Glad to hear you're finally getting some nice weather up thataway! We have a chance for rain/snow all weekend. Definitely no diggin' in my clay down here till it dries out enough again!

Enjoy your balmy weather,
Skybird

I hope we do get a rainy spell. I scattered some 30 dollar a pound buffalo gras seed the other day. That's very high priced bird feed.
Yea, snowed a bit here in La Salle this morning then quit while I went to a yard sale.

It is difficult to measure where one is in a gardening cycle once it has begun turning. At the end of this very pleasant day, here near the 49th parallel, I can say that I'm where I'd be after the Tractor Guy had messed everything up and I'd put it back together, on another year.

About a third of the garden is tilled about as well as TG would have done it on a fairly bad year, not worse but fairly bad. I have "repaired" one small part of it by moving soil into 2 new beds. Also, instead of just marking out 2 beds for peas - those beds are now surrounded by permanent paths. So, I guess I can say that there are 4 new beds!

The pea beds were also planted with my 3 varieties - snow, snap, and shell. I have never only had 2 beds (about 140sqft, each,); not in recent memory, anyway. So, there will be an additional bed as a 2nd planting. DW always wants more snow peas; I always want more snaps - we will probably divide the bed for each.

This larger veggie garden also has A LOT of tiny onion plants in it, already! I'd like for all that tedious work to be dun but can see that we aren't anywhere near thru all that were sown waaaay back about the 1st of February! DW is good at this task even if I ain't and, lucky for me, she doesn't mind it.

Here at home, many of the plants enjoyed the pleasant day, out-of-doors. None seem the worse for it and the systems did a good job keeping the greenhouse temperatures down. I mean, even with bright sunshine - it was only 57F, as best as I can determine. Now when it is 67, I'll have to bust the greenhouse out in all directions!

No chance of that anytime soon but I am looking forward to dancing the plants out and around the backyard again tomorrow. Strategically placed, I may even be able to mow the grass around them!

I'm trying not to think about the forecast for the weekdays ahead. My frustration tipping point is on something of a hair-trigger right now. That would probably explain why I "blew my top" with DD's little mutt when she didn't want to go back on the leash at the garden. She promptly freaked out and didn't stop to look over her shoulder until she was across the nearby road.

My heart was in my mouth as I imagined a 5 pound dog s m a s h e d all over the asphalt! I have cussed myself out good about this so no one needs to thump me about the head and shoulders. Let's just say that all's well that ends well as the rest of her day was remarkably uneventful. I'll do better, next time - promise.

Steve

Ooooohhhhmmmm!

Now Digit! Take a deep breath and repeat after me: Gardening is FUN!

Our gardens happen on Mother Nature's time, as much as we'd like to believe otherwise! It'll happen, and by the end of summer you'll probably be the one with the huge crops, and we'll all be the ones bewailing the hail, or heat, or cold, or rain (I wish), or drought that dun in our gardens!

Gardening is FUN!

Ain't it nice to have a Shoulder here when Mother Nature is refusing to cooperate with us!

Gardening is FUN!

Don't you even think about harming a hair on that darling little mutt's body---or I'll haul my Little Olde Lady Body up there and mess with ya! ;-)

Lover of all things dog,
Skybird

P.S. Gardening is FUN!

That was just what I was thinking to myself, Skybird, as I was washing off the garden dirt and sweat. "A garden is supposed to be fun!"

I've just invested a good part of 5 days, 2 of them in biting wind and driven snow, to get to where I would have been at the beginning of any other olde year!

Actually, I'm a little beyond (in more ways than just "round the bend" :o). Progress!!

And after 57 degrees today, we are told to expect 62, tomorrow! I think I'll go find myself a chocolate Easter egg!

Steve

Ok! So now the dirt and the sweat is washed off, and the garden is "where it would have been at the beginning of any other olde year!" Time for a break--and a few slow walks to admire the Fruit of Your Labors! There's not many things I delight in more than walking past the things I've finished---over and over and over---to just look at what I accomplished---and the longer it took and the harder it was to do, the more fun it is!

This year I decided I was gonna de-clay my veggie garden! Ok! That's not entirely true, but I decided I was at least gonna try to get the potter's clay out of it! It took me 3-4 weeks, but I went out there day after day (whenever the weather was halfway decent) and dug up one shovel full at a time, down about 8-10", and then sat down and went thru it clump by clump with my hands, breaking it up into tiny pieces, and throwing anything that changed shape rather than "breaking up" into a big pot, and lugging it to the dumpster. Had to space the crummy stuff out in the dumpster every week, 'cause clay is HEAVY, and if the truck can't pick it up, they might get out and look to see what I had in there---and I don't think we're allowed to put "dirt" in the dumpster! So for several weeks I was dumping a bunch in, and testing the weight, and dumping more in, and testing the weight---and saving the left overs in other big pots for the next week. Shovel full by shovel full, and clump by clump, I got half of the garden done! That's an area about 3 1/2 by 14 1/2, so it's really only about 50 sq. ft., but, oh, my, what a job! When I started, I was gonna do the WHOLE veggie garden (minus the tomato/eggplant area), but, uh, that's not gonna happen this year! The cukes and carrots and beets and parsnips and squash are gonna have to bide their time for one more year in the BAD clay! That side's a little bit bigger, more like 65 sq. ft., and my hands and back are simply not gonna consent to doing that this year! BUT--oh boy, is it ever FUN to walk out there now--over and over and over--to look at the good (for MY garden) soil that's on the lettuce/spinach/pea side of the garden now! And all those things are planted now, tho it's been pretty chilly since I put them in about a week ago, so definitely no action yet! But, cold or not, I have something to stare at every day now! :-) It was HARD work--when I was doing it---but it's SO much fun NOW! Next year the other side!!!

With all the massive gardens you plant--every year--I have trouble believing that you're "round the bend" at all! Yeah, the bod hurts in a couple new places every year (found out a couple weeks ago I have bursitis in my hip--I already knew it hurt, but now I have a NAME for it! Woohoo! And found out last week I have four seriously deteriorated discs in my cervical spine! Woohoo?), but the joy of going out there and looking at what I've accomplished somehow seems to make the pain go away---for a while at least! And if I didn't have the garden, I wouldn't have anything to "make the pain go away!"

Definitely time for a break and a chocolate Easter egg! And that's from somebody who just finished a very large piece of Marie Callender Chocolate Silk pie! (Chocolate helps with "that pain" too! LOL)

Tomorrow sounds like it's gonna be a wonderful day for a long walk to look at all you've gotten done,
Skybird

A note on those kneeler/bench things in jnfr's link. The concept here is wonderful, however the materials used to make these things are somewhat flimsy.

I would avoid using the bench feature if there is any slope at all. If you weigh anything over about 50 lbs, guaranteed ooopsie with bent supports. Level ground, its ok.

When the foam pad starts turning to toxic dust, pull it off and replace it with a couple of 2x4's wrapped in old towels, and duct tape the whole thing back on.

But all in all, highly recommended accessory.

Skybird I'll trade to you my sandy soil for your clay. Actually my sandy soil is much better than it used to be after large amounts of compost and cover crops but it's still sandy soil.

That's a very good point, David, and part of why I love that particular one is that it is so sturdy. But definitely check the bracing on any one you get.