Dancing with the Rototiller Beast

  

I like the bean poles.

The vegetable garden is almost all planted, except for some tomato plants. I whined so much about hand turning the garden that dear Larry borrowed an ancient, stubborn rototiller and spent a morning tilling a huge section. I was able to plant as much in a day as all of last week because the soil was so light and all the clumps had been ground up. The downside is that rototillers also grind up helpful worms; those friends who also keep the soil aerated, light and fertilied.

Larry wasn’t able to finish the rototilling as he had floors to sand, so I thought “how hard can this be?” and I decided to do it myself! 

This beast has a mind of its own!

Rototillers are like large robots with minds of their own. Could this even be a Cylon? For an hour I leaned backwards as hard as I could and coaxed the beast into the earth. Honestly, I felt like I was holding a team of oxen back! I barely finished an area large enough for some brocolli and brussel sprouts as well as a couple of yellow zucchinni plants and a couple of butternut squash.

I immediately planted broccoli and brussel sprouts when I finished rototilling this small space.

It was rather frustrating because I made such little headway. At the same time, I couldn’t believe the huge rocks that it threw up and how soft and fluffy the earth was after tilling. Still, I had to stop after an hour so that it wouldn’t tear my arms off.

The next 3 days I was very, very sore. I discovered  muscles I didn’t even know existed. 

I am experimenting with water jugs around some of my eggplants. The hope is that the jugs will absorb heat during the day and slow release it at night. I'm going to add a plastic cover to the experiment.

Our friend Jon says he learned while planting 3,000 trees per day in BC that “pain is a sign of weakness leaving the body”. I kind of like that mantra!

Today, Sunday, we went to the house and Larry finished the rototilling. He didn’t seem to mind that I had moved the markers to slightly enlarge the space. He’s a good man.

Larry's tilled space cries out for tomato seedlings!

While he was dancing with the rototiller beast, I cut more paths into the steep slope in front of the house with the self-propelling lawnmower. This machine cuts grass and shreds through all kinds of small trees and overgrown weeds. I had to eventually stop when I saw dark clouds in the distance. It was a race to finish up the work before the welcome downpour!

I am threading walking pathways through this wild area that is hillside. I think it will be fun snowshoeing here in the winter.

Speaking of plant watering, have you bought a nozzle for your hose lately? (in the last 10 years lol)  I bought a third 50′ hose and now it just reaches the beginning of the garden. It looks like I need another 50 feet. When I bought the hose I stared for ages at the varieties of hose nozzles. I guess the last time I bought one there were only 2 choices. Now it seems that every attachment has about 8 different spray settings. Honestly, hose nozzles have more features than our new shower does!

Some of the selection at our local Canadian Tire store.

Currently it is still raining outside but I think it will stop long enough tomorrow so that I can plant the last of the vegetable garden…the tomatoes.

I leave you with a short video to show you the movement of our willow tree in the wind. She looks like an entity. Originally I synched it up with Lou Rawls singing “Willow Weep for me” , which is beautiful, but youtube told me I was breaking copyright and they forced me to choose a copyright-free sound track. Big Brother is, apparently, listening.