Gardening

My Mother and Father always grew a big garden, bigger than the lot on wich I now live. Dad paid us ten cents a row to weed for him. We'd crawl down the rows on our hands and knees pulling our the weeds from around the plants, usually corn, squash, or beans. Mom weeded the more tender plants, like carrots and radishes, until the plants grew big enough to be easily distinguished from the weeds.

Planting a garden in the southwest poses a challenge for someone who grew up with 4 seasons. With 2 growing seasons, planting beings at the end of February, when most of the US wakes up to shovel the driveway. My husband prepared a 10'x3' planter box for my experimental garden. I mapped out the area and planted my seeds, still with the mentality of planting in rows, onions, radishes, lettuce, spinach, bush beans, peppers and some flowers along the edges. The next morning, much to my dismay, animal tracks filled my little planter box from what looked like a cat fight. We rigged up some green mesh to cover the planter to keep out the animals. They just fought on top of it, so we added boards to keep the mesh off the plants. Now we have cat tracks on the mesh, but they don't reach the little plants that are starting to grow.

The radishes pushed through the soil first, of course, followed by the lettuce, and then the spinach and onions. Much to my surprise, the animals fighting only scattered a few seeds. My fear of spiders kept me from trying gardening, because black widows love my garden spot. My friend suggested scattering some diatomaceous earth in the cracks and spaces along my garden walls, so we'll see if it keeps the spiders away.

Now I have carrots coming up in a nice little row, beside the radishes.