I bought some seeds.
Here's my diary about my seeds.
My wife and I,
my Tonia and I,
are buying an old house
with a good sized yard,
and we're
ready to plant a garden
this year.
I work at a Walmart store,
so late Wednesday night,
when I got off the clock,
I went to the lawn and garden department,
to shop for seeds.
I found a rack
of packets of seeds,
American Seed:
Finest Quality Since 1897,
for twenty cents each.
Twenty cents each.
I bought two packets each
of nine kinds of seeds:
Tomato: Beefsteak,
Cucumber: Straight Eight,
Garden Bean: Harvester,
Onion: White Lisbon Bunching,
Turnip: Seven Top,
Garden Bean: Cherokee Wax (Yellow Bush),
Cabbage: Early Golden Acre,
Carrot: Danvers Half Long,
Watermelon: Crimson Sweet.
Tonia asked me to make three plots,
two in the back,
one in the front yard,
each plot 4' x 4'.
I'm eager to get out and do that.
I'll need some stakes;
I can make some from scrap metal
or scrap lumber
we have lying around.
I have some string
to tie between the stakes.
I'm not sure what method I'll use
to dig up the grass,
and chop up the clods,
and rake it out smooth.
I have a shovel;
I'll at least need a rake.
In one of the plots in the back,
I'll put the tomatoes and the beans.
Tonia can check the tomatoes,
every day,
and pick them and eat them,
as soon as they're ripe.
I'm counting on her
to pick and to snap
the green beans and yellow wax beans.
I wonder if we'll have so much beans
that we'll feel the need to can them.
I grew up with my grandma's canned green beans,
always a treat.
Better than trying to use them all up,
or put them in the fridge,
where they likely will rot.
In the second plot in the back,
I'll plant the
onions and turnips
and cabbage and carrots.
That'll be my pot of stew plot.
(Pot of stew plot;
that rolls off your tongue!)
In the front yard,
I want to plant
my melons,
my cucumbers and watermelons.
(Cucumbers are melons,
if you think about it.)
It'll be fun,
if neighborhood kids walk by,
and see big watermelons,
right in front of the house.
I plan to use brown water
from our washing machine
to water the garden.
We use Ecos brand laundry soap,
a coconut kernel oil based detergent;
I think it's safe.
I'm excited;
I'll drive a stake,
measure four feet over,
drive another stake,
measure four feet forward,
drive another stake,
and so on;
when I'm done measuring
and driving stakes,
and wrapping twine around the stakes,
I'll get my shovel,
and dig and dig,
and tear out the grass and weeds,
and throw them of to the side.
I'll get a rake,
and maybe a hoe,
and break up the clods,
and break them up some more,
and rake out the fine grain soil,
and feel so good.
Then,
Oh then!
I'll plant the seeds,
just deep enough,
and water the seeds,
just wet enough.
Then I'll become a small child,
checking the plots,
looking for sprouts,
with no patience,
and so excited
at each sprout I see.
I planted a garden,
at least once before.
I remember the turnip plants
coming up like weeds,
so thick and lush and green.
I didn't know how to pick them or cook them right;
someone said to strip the soft greens
off the center veins,
so it's easier to eat.
I'll need to look that up.
I have a picture of myself,
holding up a tomato plant,
and the plant was seven feet tall,
at least.
That picture is from the mid eighties,
when I was still something of a newlywed
with my first wife, Pam.
Those were good times.
Tonia and I
will make good times again.
Thanks for reading.