Kudos to The Husband - April 18, 2021

 

The Four Granddaughters came to visit today.  After they left, I said to The Husband, "I'm going down to the garden to water the stuff we planted yesterday."  He said he'd go, too.

We mixed up five gallons of Miracle-Gro water in the big yard wagon and hauled it down the rows, dipping it out with plastic cups, pouring it directly onto the ground around the plants.  When we finished that, we stood at the end of the garden and discussed support systems for the beans and tomatoes.

We have a collection of metal fence posts and some old, rusted hog wire.  Getting those fence posts in and out of the ground is a pain.  The post driver must weigh 30 pounds and is a monster to use.  I can barely lift the thing high enough to slide it over a post and slam it down hard enough to drive the post in the ground.  Then, of course, come fall, they all have to be pulled up with a post puller, and that's not too easy, either.  (This is why I often resist growing climbing beans.)  

Standing there, The Husband wondered if we could drive the metal fence posts into the ground with the bucket on the tractor.  

Such a thing would never, ever have crossed my mind.  

I said, "Well, get the tractor, and let's try one."

I got a fence post, and he got the tractor and drove it down to the far end of the garden.  I held the post, and he lowered the back side of the bucket onto it, and drove that sucker right into the ground with the greatest of ease.  My jaw dropped over how easy it was.

We still had plenty of daylight and time to work, so we decided to keep going.  I was going to tote the fence posts to the garden, two at a time, but The Husband had a better idea.  He drove the tractor to where the fence posts were stored, and we loaded them all into the bucket at once.  

We had to do the job backwards, since he couldn't drive forward once we'd set a post in front of the tractor.  Backing the tractor down the rows was a little tricky, but he managed not to smash any of the plants.

We now have the posts up for all four rows that will need fencing.  In less than an hour.  Without throwing out our backs.  Winner!

So far, I am extremely pleased with how the gardening is going.  We have nice rows.  The tractor tires have packed the ground between the rows so hard that the middles might not be so soft and muddy.  Dare I hope that the hard packing will suppress weeds and grass?