Turning, Spreading, Mixing

Nearly a week, and a few days rain, after prepping
the gardens, the opportunity presented itself to lay
 the vegetable plants in the soil. (6/5/16)

Another late spring and another go round with our vegetable garden. With each passing year the seasons come more quickly and it feels as though (too) shortly after pulling up stakes and turning over dirt in October, comes time to turn over the soil again and reappoint certain sections as tomato territory and cucumber lane. As is our tradition, I usually wake up early, around 6 a.m., to weed and prepare the bed, while my wife plans and plants. Slipping neatly into our archetypal roles, I, as the man, am the destroyer and my wife is the nurturer.

This year, Memorial Day weekend once again proved to be the first time our other individual activities gave way just enough to create the opportunity to work together in the yard. Though the images look roughly the same each year (so, maybe the house was a different color last year, or the bed inched out a little further this year), the transformation from weed bed to vegetable garden is a rewarding one even before the vegetables take root.

Rather than cutting down the length of the weeds and grass,
 not mowing allowed for an easier grasp for yanking out roots.
(5/30/16)

Once used a roto-tiller, but preferred a
pitchfork and my hands to turn the soil and extract the
invasive weeds; it's a small enough area and it feels good to
get dirty. (5/30/16)

With the overgrown weeds, removed, a bag of
compost left over from the previous summer comes into view
as things begin to take shape. (5/30/16)

Ready for the annual mixing of compost, both earned
through our recycling efforts with Community Composting
and self-generated in the corner composter. (5/30/16)

Spreading, mixing and turning. (5/30/16)

Ready to receive whatever vegetables milady
wishes to grow this summer. (5/30/16)