May 29, 2010
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A Lesson in Gardening for Donna
After talking with Donna my gardening novice I thought that I would post some picture of a few of the things that we had talked about and a few of the pieces of equipment that we use. This is the tractor driven rototiller that we use to prepare the ground in the spring. Since our gardens are all in the same places each year the only reason to use a plow is if we want to make any of them bigger.
This is the middle size walk behind rototiller. It lives in the shop right now because it needs a new belt. It is used once the garden is planted to work the ground between the rows and to keep the weeds down.
This is my mantis that Doug bought me a few years ago. It is my favorite. It may be small but it is powerful. I use it in the smaller beds to work them up in the spring and to keep the weeds down throughout the season. I can also break sod with it on a limited basis to make new beds when MK needs a new flower bed or when I am dividing my Hostas or the Hops.
This is what the rows of potatoes look like after they have been hilled up. I ran the mantis up and down between the rows to work up the soil and to break up the weeds.
Then with the hoe I went through and pulled the soil up to the plants creating hills for the potatoes to grow in. If you have ever seen a potato with a bit of green on it that means that it has grown exposed to the sun. I try to keep mine covered up.
At some point we will have to go through and pick the potato bugs off of them too. If they get infested the bugs will make the plants die before it’s time and you would either get no potatoes or potatoes that were very small.
Now all we need around here is some rain.
