I've got hoes in different area codes.

I'm not going to lie. I've been waiting to use that headline for months. And today is the day.

Since my dad has been ill and mostly bedridden throughout the late winter and early spring months, I offered to put in my parents' garden for them this year. Luckily, our pastor generously dropped by with his new tiller, so I didn't have to wrestle with my dad's contraption. The soil was all ready to go on the very dreary but warm Memorial Day when I came to stay with Dad, relieving Mom to take a shopping excursion with her sister visiting from New York. As you can see, I was not without help.


Thanks Irwin, for all of the impromptu fertilizer. I picked up some pea, bean, and corn seeds as well as some tomato and watermelon plants from a local store. This year it was agreed that a small garden would be best since my mom would mostly be the one to water and tend the plants.


Does this tool have a specific name? If it does, I don't know what it is. I've always just called it "the row hoe-er." Perhaps I should re-name it to "the back breaker."


I kept imagining the delicious, crisp crunch as I crawled down each row, sowing my seeds.


Or the juicy tartness of one of these "Big Beef" tomatoes.


My rows weren't too straight, my planting wasn't too precise, but I could have done a worse job.


Husband and I also tried our hands at cultivating our own garden in our backyard. The original owner had a lovely little garden all plotted out and tilled up, but it had slowly been overtaken by lawn. We got out Husband's parents' tiny tiller, hoed, scraped, and tilled for an hour or two one evening, and never returned. We realized that we just have too much going on inside the house to worry about the outside right now. As you can see, our efforts are already also being overtaken by lawn. We hope later this summer (once we're moved into the house) to really till up the plot and mix in some fertilizer from one of Husband's friends (err...from the friend's cows...not the friend himself...). Then, the garden will be all ready to go for next spring.

Yesterday, while visiting my parents, I helped hoe some of the weeds from their garden. The plants are coming up quickly and seem to be flourishing. Our own garden will see no such life this summer. Maybe I can con a few ears of corn out of them...