By Rick Houser-
Some springs can be very cold and some can be very wet and once in a while spring can be just the way we want it to be. This was one of those wet and cold springs with both of the worst reaching us together. However, in the heart of most any person who has made an attempt at raising a garden you are going to try no matter what old man weather sends your way. Over all of my years, I have attempted to garden almost every spring. Please don’t mistake this with a beautiful garden every year because it hasn’t been that way.
Gardening isn’t for the faint of heart. I guess it never was intended to be but some folks can make it look so very simple to do, like on those gardening shows that are on the public channels in the winter months. The person hosting the show walks around a plot of land and explains what they are going to grow there and after they come back from a commercial, there are all of these lush plants and the host picking off a few vegetables that are prize winning to show the viewer. Now you are sitting in your armchair and eating potato chips and you think to yourself that, “Man that sure looks easy and I know for a fact fresh vegetables are the best thing to eat.”
With the seed planted in your head (no pun intended) you dig out an old Burpees seed catalog and begin to write down on a sheet of paper what you plan to raise when spring does get here. I am going to stop here for a moment. Planning a garden isn’t the worst idea you ever had as you need to figure out just how much you plan on trying to grow. You might think me wrong but I will bet that when you take all of what you have planned and try to plant it in your garden it isn’t going to fit. This happens to almost all of us. (I hope, as I don’t want to be alone.)
Growing up down on Fruit Ridge Road my parents raised what I am going to refer to as a “farmer’s garden”. Our garden was way over a half acre in size and things such as beans, corn, and potatoes were raised in bulk. My folks had to do that as Mom cooked for many farm hands and men working in a field are coming to the table very hungry. Therefore, gardening was not a hobby but a part of the way of life. I can see in my mind’s eye that every farm that I ever worked at had large gardens. As a farm hand myself I was pleased to see those gardens as I knew the cooks would be filling many plates with vegetables to go with the meat entrée. Put all of that along with hot yeast rolls and the thought of hunger was erased for that day.
I know with my parents they gardened for a genuine purpose but they moved to a place at the edge of Bethel and old habits were very hard to break. For many years into their retirement, they still raised a farmer’s garden and there were only the two of them still at home. But for my sister, brother, and myself, we never wanted for garden produce. As a matter of fact, I don’t think that the village of Bethel lacked for garden produce either as they offered to any and everyone who crossed their paths during the garden season. I am going to say here again that they, like the host on television, made gardening look pretty easy.
Now you who have gardened know that a good garden is anything but easy. It takes a lot of backbreaking work along with a good eye for when something needs done to a plant and just how. As I said earlier, I have attempted to garden almost every year. These days I only raise what I call a shirt tail full of produce in my garden. Enough so I can take it to the table and eat it the same day if I want to. There is something I enjoy about working with the earth and putting seeds or plants in that earth and hoping I will be rewarded. For many years, I just assumed that if you threw some seed on the ground you would yield a crop. Man, was I ever wrong. There have been a couple of years where my wife and I put out a garden that was truly a pleasure to look at and we did reap what we sowed. It seems though that there have been more where we didn’t fare as well. Most times, it really wasn’t our fault. Some years Mother Nature just didn’t want to cooperate and it’s almost impossible to out hustle Mother Nature.
One nice thing over the past couple of decades is that my daughter Meghan has been bit by the garden bug and loves to take on the challenge. She seems to come out on top almost every time. These days I help her work the ground and let her handle the seeds and plants as she has developed the knack for working with Mother Nature pretty well. For my part, she shares with my wife and myself and I don’t have to work nearly as hard. (That really is a good deal.)
The bottom line is that a garden can be a very enjoyable hobby to take on. The thing is that you began planning back in January by watching all of those informative television programs and studying all of the seed catalogs you can find. You can even go out and measure off your garden spot and on paper lay out the rows and what you plan to put in each row. Planning to a point is good but thinking that just because you planned it is in no way going to make it happen and became the bumper crop you planned.
Once, you have your soil in shape and ready for the planting you have one more step and to me it is the biggest step in the entire venture. That folks is to hope. It is a small word but over a season stop and see just how many times you hope for no frost or no rain, or maybe needing a rain along with it not getting too hot. Over a season there is so very much to hope for. Therefore, if you hope correctly the odds are in your favor to have that garden just like you saw on T.V.!
Rick Houser grew up on a farm near Moscow in Clermont County and loves to share stories about his youth and other topics. If you would like to read more of his writings, he has two books for sale. You can reach him at houser734@yahoo.com.