Spring Keeps Coming

I guess the only reason it seems that spring is running past me, is I only see it on the weekends. I got up early this morning and sat at my office window to watch the sun come up and read my email and chat online with my daughter. Much to my surprise, a Wisteria down at the property line was in full bloom. I think in the past history of this property, there had been a mobile home to the north of our new home. I think this wisteria is one of the remains of that dwelling.
After chatting with my daughter I drove over to Ben Wheeler, TX, which was a little further than I had been told, to get some tomato plants. You know, I don't even like tomatoes much, but if you plant a garden, you have to have tomatoes.
A lady 3 miles east of Ben Wheeler has a nursery at her home and advertised on Craigslist that she had tomato plants for $1.00 each, 4 to 6 inches tall. That beat the box stores by more than half. I came back with a variety of tomato plants and some pepper plant and $40 lighter and a half days ration of fuel spent. But it was a nice trip and I meet someone I liked and had a nice chat. With all this said, every old farm house between here and Ben Wheeler had either a Wisteria or Lady Banks Rose blooming in their yard. Red Buds, Dogwood, Quince and wild flowers are blooming everywhere.


Well, here it is, my biggest garden ever just waiting for me to get started. After my trip to Lott's Nursery and WalMart, I'm loaded with seeds and plants that will return my efforts 100 times. If I can hold up to the efforts. This is an effort I hope to share with many and also build a supply of food for us.
As soon as I started planting, I discovered that the man that tilled the garden spot only tilled down about 3 inches. It looked great until I started planting. I guess I'm really disappointed in the job that he did for us. Maybe by fall garden, I'll have my own tiller or adopt one of the no till methods of planting.


This is about 1/4 or 3/8 acre, I'll walk it off tomorrow and check it out. My previous gardens had been small backyard plots in very bad rocky, shallow soil. I was so happy to get to plant in this east Texas sandy loam. After working all afternoon (80 degrees) I only have about 1/8 of the garden planted. This will be more than a weekend job.







While I'm working in the garden I let the chickens out to FREE RANGE. They seem to love it. While walking through the pasture I see a lot of insects for them to feed on. Maybe cut down on the feed bill some.
Their chicken run/coop is a sled 8 x 18 feet. They eat down the weeds and grass in this area in less than a week. I try to move them weekly. I'm really glad I built the sled design. Works great.

The last couple of years have not been great, but on this Easter weekend I am grateful for what we have left. Thank you Lord. Amen.