My First Gardening Lesson

I learned my first gardening lesson when I was around 12 or 13 years old. 

My mom read a book on growing a no-work garden and sent my older brother and I out to to the back of our new 1-acre yard to start a no-work garden. Our long-time joke was that no-work garden just means have other people do it for you.

We prepped the ground which was a mixture of sand and clay and planted squash, watermelon, and who-knows-what else. Then we mulched the whole garden with an extremely thick layer of straw. The garden was amazing. The plan really was ingenious because the mulch did keep weeds down and keep the soil moist. We didn't have to do much work after planting.

We tried it again the next year and the garden struggled. Someone heard about our problem and said, "it's the soil. Your garden used up all the nutrients the first year. You've got to replace them."

Those were my first and probably best lessons in the garden.  Protect the soil with mulch. Keep moisture in so you have to water less. Keep weeds from starting. Replace what the plants take out. In short, take care of the dirt and the dirt will take care of the plants.

A high school student once told me about what she learned in history or government class about President Truman. "He was a dirt farmer!" she laughed. 

The more I garden, the more I realize that we're all just dirt farmers.