Gardening Diary: When Gardening Has a Mind of Its Own

Don't expect Tolstoy. One of the purposes of this blawg is to enjoy writing it. That means I don't write it when I don't want to. Sorry about that, because I love gardening,nature, the forest, and the outdoors in general.

I do write to inform, sometimes, but most likely you know as much or more about gardening as I do. So maybe you can help me figure out how my gardening got away from me this year. This year, I think the failures outnumbered the successes. I blame the vast amount of work I've had to do. But there were some positives, too.

On the plus side, the tomatoes are looking good, tasting even better. The Heirloom varieties have an interesting pink color. There are plenty of them, as usual, and I let the worms have some because I've been too lazy to use the organic spray I bought.

On the negative side, I once again planted too many squash/zucchini and they dominated the garden. I became disgusted there were so many, with leaves so large they blotted out the sun. I tore them out early on, in late spring. A madman's behavior, I know.

Positive: Arugula was magnificent, so easy to grow, and so peppy when you add it to the other greens.

Negative: We did well with the leaf lettuces but I didn't plant enough of it. I replanted just recently: Romaine Lettuce, butternut, and some escarole. The latter two will do well but the Romaine, planted earlier, is getting a little leggy because of the persistent hot weather. It's looking alright, though, and should yield modestly in spite of the long legs.

Speaking of long legs, the daddy spiders are awfully busy, spinning webs everywhere. That's a sign of things to come, you know. When the spiders get busy, the seasons will soon change.

I forgot the Concord Grapes. Finally, we've had an abundant yield as the vines matured and I did a bit better on pruning. They're magnificent. I should take a picture.

New Use for Ryobi 2-Stroke Garden Tiller

A while back I published a review about a light Ryobi 2-Stroke Garden Tiller. I bought the thing in the Spring of 2009 and have used it more than I thought I would. It's been great for our small garden. If you're producing vegetables for more than your own use, you'd want a heavier one, or one that fits on your tractor. I could get one that fits my old John Deere 445 but they're expensive, and besides I've have to add a 3 point hitch.

On the other hand, I discovered a new use for the Ryobi Tiller. We have a large lawn but we also have a 3 - acre wooded area--very nice except for the trees which were too close to the house. I've taken down some of those trees with my chain saw, and cleared the stubs with a rented stump grinder. So I thought I'd expand the law a bit on one side of the house.

Step One: I used the John Deere 445 tractor with a 40 Loader (the one that fits the 445) and chisel plowed the weeds and debris. Underneath was some soil and lots of small rocks upon which I was to plant grass.

Step Two: That's where the Ryobi Tiller came in handy. You don't want to throw grass seed on hard-packed soild because it would wash away with the rains. So I took the Tiller and scoured the ground surface to a depth of one or two inches--perfect for sowing the seeds. I raked a little dirt over the seeds and then I dragged a roller over the area.

We had some much needed rain. That helped. The grass has come up beautifully. There are some bare patches where I was stingy with the grass seed, but I'll go over them when the grass comes up if necessary. On the whole, it's looking good.

A pretty good job for the Ryobi Tiller--I thought I'd mention it if it never occurred to you.