Thank God the garden has distracted me from the election. My tulips came, and I now have a mission to plant. In May, during our escape to Holland, Michigan, Peg and I bought ten bulbs each of thirteen different colors. Now I’m anxious to see them bloom. Along with the bulbs, I popped for a Mantis power tiller-cultivator. I always wanted one of those suckers. I was just a little hesitant to fire it up for the first time, but I got over that, gassed it up, and pulled the rope. WOW! That’s all I can say about this machine. It does the job. My first try saw me holding on like a bronc-buster on a mustang.
I started in the softest soil in the yard. That’s where I practiced moving the machine back and forth to get the feel for it’s power. After ten minutes, I was ready to tackle the bed for the bulbs. The top soil in the new bed is only three inches deep, Below is hard clay. Even so, the little Mantis ground its way into the ground. When It hit the clay it began jumping up, trying to get out. With some patience I was able to scar the clay.
My shoulders and neck ached from the tension of holding on. It’s been a long time since I stressed the old body this way. I’m sure that by the time I finish planting I will be in better shape, or dead. Next, I moved the soil out of the bed to one side with a rake. My last compost from son Steve’s horse farm went down in a thin layer. I planted three colors of ten bulbs by mixing. The next ten were the same color, after that another ten of a different color. The squirrel guard came next. For this, I used chicken wire, or as it is called at Home Depot, “poultry barrier.” Finally, I shoveled the top soil back to cover the bulbs. Next, I will add a six inch layer of soil, sand, and compost.
Three hours after I started, I went into the house, too exhausted to think about the election, and the future of our great country. The candidates need to do the same.
Filed under: Election, family, Garden, Motivation, Travel, Writer | Tagged: Holland, Home Depot, Mantis, Michigan, tiller, tulips | Leave a comment »
