Mary Mary Quite Contrary!

How does your garden grow?
Anyone remember that nursery rhyme from when you were a kid? My mom used to read nursery rhymes to me all the time and I actually remember them from way back then! The reason I used that particular nursery rhyme is that is is Spring! Yep, and that means it is time to get out in the SUN, and plant your garden!
This year we have decided that we are going to try and make this farm pay for itself a little bit, and since we will have the Backwards Homestead totally paid off this summer, there is no time like the present to start some self sustaining projects like bigger gardens!
For several years now we have been fighting the same garden spot and the hard clay dirt that it contains. It is a nightmare. I am totally serious when I say that you could actually throw a pot with the dirt. When we till, it turns into hard clods that just rattle around your hoe making you so mad that you could actually pitch those clods at anyone who even doubted the depth of the clayness!

WATER!!! WATER!!

To make things even more needful as far as MORE garden area, Katrina and Joy had went to town to buy me some seed potatoes and onion sets. When they get to the store, the guy is overcome with seed potatoes! He offers them a 50 lb bag, with a BOGO deal!  Trina, being her mothers daughter, comes home with 100 pounds of seed potatoes! To be fair, she did call first, but I am sure knowing the answer. I mean FREE TATER! Who would say no to that? Not I! I now needed a tater patch. A big tater patch...
We had already decided that we wanted to expand our horizons, and till up a few more garden plots.... But! I was pretty nervous because taking totally awesome grass, and tilling it up gives me hives! After all, what if the dirt was the same?! What if it was still clay-e?! What if it washed, and made a huge mess of the yard?!? What if!?!? I could pass out just thinking about all the things that COULD happen.

The INHUMANITY!!

 So, one day while I was inside, Pud'nin just went outside, leaped on his trusty tractor, and tilled me a spot. I was a bit nervous when I saw it, and I admit I was a bit itchy. It looked great, but....what if?!
But, we forged ahead.
But, this digging thing is addictive, and like most farm things, is one enough? Is two enough?! What about THREE! Since I had gotten my hives under control, and the world had not ended because we had tilled up the grass, we decided to till yet ANOTHER garden spot! This one is even bigger than the original garden area!! Woot!

The original area, AKA the clay mine!

This is the third spot, ignore the grass, been too wet to till!

The second area where I figured out the world will go on even  if I destroy the grass.

It has been SO awesome having all that dirt, all the possibilities. We planted onions, radishes, tomatoes and cucumbers! We planted potatoes, green beans, horticulture beans and watermelons. We planted until there was not a single inch of unseeded dirt. It.Was.Awesome.
Well, unless you count that I threw out my back and I am still not able to walk totally right, it was awesome! Someone had to take one for the team, so what is a little back pain...or alot of back pain. Debilitating back pain actually. Looking back, if you decide to triple your garden space, you might wanna stretch a bit first, it can be a bit of a buzz kill when you are laying flat on your back crying like a girl for days!

But, it was worth it because now I have so much stuff growing that when it all comes in I will be under mountains of produce! Acres of squash, billions of tomatoes!! I can't wait to start eating and canning all sorts of yumminess. We ate so much of my stash last winter that I will be one busy woman this summer. This is the part of being a throwback in time. Feeding my family from the land and from the work that I do myself as a labor of love! There is nothing better than popping open a jar of home canned goodies. Or being able to give someone a gift of summer deliciousness in the middle of December.

Yummy!

Did anyone else decide to go big or go home? Expand a garden? Take on a new project that will make things way better for yourself and your family? If so, I sure hope you are as excited as we are with our venture into mega gardening!