Cabbages

Today when I was leaving the nursing home after visiting my mother, Mr. Fred was sitting on the front porch, taking in the warm breeze.  We greeted one another, and then asked me where I was going.  I told him I was fixing to go home and plant cabbages. 

He said, "You late."
I said, "Yes, I know."
He said, "Anyhow, you don't 'plant' cabbages, you 'set 'em out'."

He told me he always raised a garden because he just liked to grow things.  Then he said, "I don't take much out of it, myself, but I give things to the old women in the neighborhood."

That Mr. Fred sure knows the way to a woman's heart. 

Then he said, "They won't hardly come pick it, but they're right glad to have whatever I'll take to them."

I said, "Ain't that just the way, Mr. Fred?"  ;)

So I came home, got my gloves and my shovel and my cabbage sets, and went to the garden.

I have been grooming about 8 rows for the no-till gardening method - layers of newspaper, covered by layers of straw, and sprinkled with alfalfa sprouts, like the man told me.  I peeled back the hay, plunged my shovel through the wet newspaper, and lifted out a shovel full of dirt.  Guess what I saw?  WORMS!  Big, fat, juicy ones.  YES!  The soil man said that worms are a sign of healthy soil, but I haven't been seeing any.  Maybe they've always been there, and we've just been chopping them up with plows and tillers.  In any case, I was happy to see them. 

Now, it's really too wet to be planting anything, but I planted - excuse me, set out - those cabbages anyway, because it's supposed to rain again tonight, and I can let Mother Nature do the watering.  Besides, if I keep waiting, it'll be way too late, and my cabbages would probably croak.

I also had a package of brussels sprouts that I bought a month ago and never got around to planting.  They are limp and pitiful, but I planted them, anyway, in a flower bed in front of my house.  It will be a miracle if they live. 

So, the gardening season on the hill has officially begun.

In about two weeks, I'm going in with some squash seeds and bean seeds, maybe even a few tomato plants. 

I'll keep you posted.  ;)