I Get By With a Little Help from my Folks

This was a big week for my garden. Three things happened: 1) My parents arrived with tools, advice, and free labor. 2) I got my soil results back (so much phosphorous...) and 3) I signed up for a CSA just in case I don't get any vegetables.

My Dad and My Dave survey the land.

My parents now have two of their kids living within an hour of each hour so they can visit us on a Friday, Brian and Sarah on a Saturday and drive home on Sunday. They drove up Friday night and we grilled fish, drank wine, and had a very belated birthday cake for my Dad.

The next morning, we explored downtown Randolph a little more (there's not much to explore, but we did try out the couch in the coffeeshop instead of the chairs!) and then had perfect weather to get started in the garden.

Dave "supervising" Dad tilling.

My landlords had clearly started a garden and let grass grow over it, so that's where we decided to have our patch. My dad roto-tilled the patch while the rest of us did some heavy looking on.

My mom kindly donated many of her gardening tools to our garden and walked us through expanding it with a pitchfork. (When we were turning over the dirt soil there were tons of worms!)

Post-garden-expansion-weed-cleaning-up

Some backstory to gardening in my family. Both my grandfathers had major green thumbs, and my mother does as well. I got to see that bond between my Grampie and my mom when he would come to visit and they would tour her garden together.

My Papa (my mom's dad) grew up on a farm. My mom has great memories of visiting his farm when he was dating my Grammie. ("What's this cow's name?" "Bessie" "What's this one's name?" "Hmm... also Bessie") Then when my mom started her own garden, he did the same thing for her - passing on knowledge and helping out.

I'm really lucky now that my mom can do the same for me. 

My mom's garden was and is amazing. As I kid, I loved that while playing in the backyard, I always had access to snacks. Fresh cherry tomatoes and beans were refreshing treats. And chives always looked cool to chew on and spit out. I can't wait until I'm eating the same fruits of labor from my garden.

Victory! Garden!

Anywhoo, after a beautiful and dirty soily morning, we finally had a dirt patch! It's been a very rainy week since then and now it is sprouted with weeds. I know this means that I have a long summer of weeding ahead of me, but hopefully also means that the soil is super fertile.

Until next time, when I add Limestone to my dirt soil...