Plowing The Garden With The Wheel Hoe

Raised Beds Last Year 2009 Full of Food!

Spring time seems to bring out our enthusiasm for work. Must be the birds coming back home makes us just want to be out there with them. No wonder they are singing while they work! It just seems so peaceful when the weather is nice, the sun shining, the sky blue and a gentle breeze swishing through the tops of our huge trees. Hard to stay in the house when the outside is calling to me.

My  husband has been experiencing that call to work outside big time this spring. He has been out there almost daily working on some project or other. Most of my projects lately have been inside. So here I sit while he is out there working physically hard. Sometimes sitting at the computer working online is my favorite job.......but on these beautiful, early days in the spring, after winter is over, I just want to be outside in the sun. I planted a couple of early beds of salad greens and look forward to them getting a head start. They like cool weather anyway. I never buy salad vegetables once summer is here and my plants are plentiful.

I told in my previous post about our wheel hoe which we use to plow our raised beds.......well here is a couple pictures of how it looks in action. As you can see the bicycle tire makes the job seem effortless. Seem effortless is what I said..........but it is not by any means effortless! He was working hard and he did all these wood beds in one day.

As you can see it fits right in the raised bed and you can walk alongside of it so you don't pack your composted dirt down in the bed. You could also walk with your feet on the edges of the bed if you can, but that might be easier for a younger person.

It may seem to be a lot more work than using a rototiller. But honestly it is not. A rototiller shakes and grinds while you are pushing it. It stinks from the gasoline fumes. It makes the air blue. It breaks down. My own father at almost 91 uses one, and almost every time I go over there he is working on it. Our wheel hoe can be used with your critters laying around watching you as you will see in my photo below.  You can be listening to the birds while you work.

When he was finished our raised beds looked great and seemed to be inviting me to plant something in them. So I am checking out my cold weather plant seeds now. Most of my seeds will be sprouted and ready to go in the garden by the end of May, depending on the weather of course. Our nights are still pretty cool here in upstate New York.

All our beds should produce enough food for us to get through till next harvest season. I am planning on really working hard at it this year. I will also add food I don't grow from our local farms and farmer's markets. My hope is to be able to build a safe secure little hen house for about six Rhode Island Reds. With them I think I can cut my dependence on store bought eggs. I will be writing more about eliminating many foods from the grocery stores. It isn't safe or good for you. Time for everyone to add a garden to their homes for their health and the health of their families.

As you can tell........our critters, Patches, Hobo and Nikita (our dog) got exhausted watching my husband do all that work!

Hope you were able to get a start on your gardens. I know many people in the south are a lot further along than we are. Even with a short gardening season you can fill your pantry and root cellar with much food if you just put in the effort. If you have children.........time to teach them how while you have the chance. It might just save their lives in the future.

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole