steady

Once a friend was asked about Dave’s gardening skills.

“Well,” said my dear philosopher friend, “Dave likes to think he is.”

And so it goes, I like to think I am good at something I am probably only marginal at best.

Once I had a steady job (not much of that in my life) I went to work at 8 every morning and was off at 4:30 every day. The pay wasn’t good, but the work was in the same subdivision I lived in (I was working for my step dad building houses).

The upside was that every night without failure I would spend an hour or two in my garden, and it was a huge garden, close to a full acre in size. I am not sure I have ever had a better garden than what I had that year.

The secret was obvious.

Lloyd is a good friend. He is a tad bit older than I am, and has been a farmer/dairyman. Last year he told me the secret of a good garden: “Get up early and put in a bit of time in the garden.” Doesn’t seem like much but it sure is right.

A weed 2” high is a pretty easy matter, but when it gets 3’ high, or when the weeds go from 1 per square foot to a zillion, all goes bad.

My mother (who taught me what I know about gardening) said that if you could keep your garden in control until the hot weather (July in our area) and let it go to weeds, at the end of the season it would look awful, but there would be more food in there than you could eat.

Each year I promise to take Mom’s advice a little less to heart and Lloyd’s example a little more.

Don’t worry, if it is awful, you will never hear me talk or write about it!